If you have a large garden outside your house, you wish to make it easier to manage and more beautiful to look at. A beautiful landscape will come with different sections or areas where you dedicate different uses, such as a vegetable garden and sitting area. But before you can get to enjoy these uses, you need to edge the sections. Here are tips for DIY bamboo edging.
What is Bamboo Garden Edging?
Garden edging is when you use various materials, such as a wooden edge, to create crisp lines for your garden to separate different sections. Since you can use garden edging for various functions, you can choose the material to use, how high the edge needs to be, and the design you want to follow.
Bamboo is one of the planet's best sustainable and easy-to-use materials when creating your garden edging. You can use bamboo edging to accentuate flower beds, separate vegetable gardens, hold mulch in place, and prevent damaging plants, flowers, or other lawn features as you mow.
Since bamboo is natural and highly renewable, there are endless ways you can use it for edging. This article will explore some ideas for your inspiration and discuss the types of bamboo you can use for your garden edges.
Best DIY Bamboo Edging Ideas
As you look to design your first bamboo edging on garden beds and lawns, it is imperative to understand that bamboo works best in a vertical design. From there, you will only need to choose spacing, height, and continuity. Here are some of the best bamboo garden border ideas you can recreate in your garden or lawn edging today.
a) Simple, short, vertical bamboo edging
A short bamboo edging is best for flower beds, pool areas, new vegetable gardens, and other lawn edging needs. This design incorporates short bamboo stakes that encircle your garden areas.
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The design is easy to achieve and looks particularly good when paired with greenery from a garden bed. Nevertheless, the edging also looks great when used on open areas like pool sides to prevent debris from contaminating the pool water.
Depending on where you need to install this edging, ensure you have enough height to plant the round stakes for a sturdy border. In addition, opt for a tightly-packed border to accentuate the garden as naturally and cleanly as possible. This design makes a great addition to a lawn you occasionally mow as the stakes prevent damage to your plants.
b) Scalloped bamboo edging
While bamboo has many uses, such as making kitchen accessories, clothing, and even entertainment speakers, the durable stakes are also ideal when used as privacy screens. A scalloped bamboo fence is suitable for dividing your garden into different sections, especially if the garden is facing a street.
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When installing a scalloped bamboo edging, you have the freedom to choose a tall height for the best privacy. Alternatively, you can also go for a shorter edging to separate a flower bed, pavement, or vegetable garden. The beauty of this garden is its ability to accentuate lawn features, such as a flower bed, without being too dominant itself.
When installing, you will need to find fresh bamboo stakes, measure them to your preferred height, then split each stake by half. Then, you will pound each stake into the soil creating a scalloped design. Though the edging will require great maintenance, it is easy to design as you can also create a curved edging to accentuate your lawn features.
c) Woven bamboo edging
If you adore the wattle fence for its simplicity, versatility, and durability, you will love to know you can create a similar edging using bamboo stakes. This edging can be as tall as you like for a privacy screen or large garden border, and you can also install a shorter design to accentuate a flower bed, small vegetable garden, or pavement.
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The woven design works well with natural elements in its background, so you can install it near a garden or flower bed for best results. Th installation is similar to that of a wattle fence. You will need soft bamboo stakes, split them into half, and then use posts and twine to weave them for the best screens.
d) Crisscross bamboo edging
While bamboo edging is great for accentuating garden features, it is also suitable for your garden's focal feature. A crisscross fence is not exactly effective as a privacy screen, and while it can build a good garden edging, this fence can be the main feature in your garden.
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When installing this fence, you will need soft bamboo stakes that you can split into two, then install them onto wooden posts to create the crisscross design.
e) Sporadic bamboo garden edging
You can go for a sporadic bamboo garden edging design when you have several features to accentuate in your garden. This design requires verticle bamboo stakes installed in different areas in your outdoor space.
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While you can choose any height to work with, the sporadic garden edge looks much better when using short and uneven stakes. You can install this edging with pre-treated stakes to guide pavements and maintain healthy flower beds and vegetable gardens.
Best Bamboo for Garden Edging
Before you can envision a finished edge, it is imperative that you first understand which types of bamboo you can use for creating edges or borders. Unlike any other wooden stakes, bamboo is available in over 1400 species, and each species has different characteristics for different uses.
When choosing one type of bamboo for your garden needs, you need to consider how sturdy the stakes are, how long they can last in your garden, and how well they complement your garden features. Here are some types of bamboo you can use.
- Timor black. This bamboo species is as tall as any tree in a forest and is characterized by black and strong culms. Growing as tall as 12 meters, this sturdy bamboo tree is ideal for creating tall edges or creating different designs such as the crisscross, wattle, and woven fence designs. In addition, the color makes the culms superb for a flower bed to create a natural ambiance.
- The dragon head bamboo. If you need to find bamboo stakes you can split into two for creating wonderful edges or borders, it is best to look for species with long and hollow culms. The dragon head bamboo is one such tree that is also characterized by a shiny green color. You can use these culms for sporadic, woven, crisscross, scalloped and simple verticle bamboo edges.
- China gold. While tall and spaciously-branched bamboo culms, such as the black Timor and dragon head bamboo are easy to use for all types of garden edges, a heavily branched bamboo like the China Gold offers better services as a privacy screen. This is a shorter bamboo species with more nodes, making it hard to design fences or fancy edging designs. However, it is ideal for verticle edges, and the golden yellow color would work perfectly with any outdoor feature.
How to Install Bamboo Edging
Bamboo edging is affordable, versatile, sustainable, and easy to work with. As you noticed above, you can create different designs with different types of bamboo. Luckily, the installation process is easy in most cases, so you might not need to outsource professional landscaping services.
In this article, we shared several bamboo garden edging ideas, and we will see how you can install them below. The three main installation ideas are vertical edging, crisscross edging, and woven edging.
a) How to install vertical bamboo garden edging
When you decide to install a vertical bamboo edge, you need to choose the ideal garden edging height for your needs. You can go for a short edging or border with a vertical edge, which is ideal for guiding pavements, vegetable gardens, and flower beds. A taller fence would be ideal as a privacy screen for separating a larger garden. Here is how you can install the edging;
Step 1: This step is vital if you have bought your bamboo culms and need to cut them to size. Use a tape measure and marker to decide your ideal garden edging height. Remember, your measurement needs to also account for the length you will drive into the ground when installing.
Step 2: Use a hand saw to cut the bamboo sizes to avoid crushing or damaging your culms. Even though bamboo is one of the most durable woods, it is easy to damage if you attempt to cut with heavy machinery.
Step 3: Once you have all your bamboo pieces, mark where you will install them. In this step, you can use a rope to mark where to plant the pieces and also to ensure even spacing and design perfection.
Step 4: Start driving each bamboo piece into the ground about six times to guarantee the bench can withstand wind, water, and other types of abuse. You will decide whether to use a mallet to drive the pieces into the ground, but it is best to use your hand to drive thin pieces of bamboo.
Step 5: When the bamboo culms are in the ground, you can decide to use wooden posts or a wire to stabilize the edging further.
b) How to install a woven bamboo edge
Unlike vertical bamboo edging, woven edging requires wooden stakes to stabilize the construction.
Step 1: Drive sturdy wooden stakes a few feet apart into the ground. It is important to ensure you drive a third of the length into the ground to guarantee sturdiness after installation. In addition, ensure you have the best measurement for your desired height.
Step 2: To create the woven design, you need fresh bamboo culms split into half. Then, take a bamboo culm and tie it to the front or back of a wooden stake using twine. When you get a secure fit, weave the culm back and tie it to another post in the same fashion using twine. As you continue creating the edging, observe a crisscross pattern by tying each bamboo stick to two posts for the best stability.
c) How to Install a crisscross bamboo garden edging
Similar to installing the woven bamboo garden edging, you need to determine how high you want the fence to be, and you will also require wooden posts to stabilize the construction.
Step 1: The first thing to construct is a frame. For this, you must have the best height measured. When measuring the height, account for the part of the stakes that will be buried in the ground. Then, use twine to create the frame, so it is ready for the bamboo sticks.
Step 2: When the frame is ready, cut your bamboo sticks to size using a saw. Finally, arrange them in the desired pattern on the frame, using twine to join the crisscross sections to the sturdy frame.
Step 3: When you have finished creating the crisscross panel, you can use a mallet to drive it into damp soil.
Frequently Asked Questions About DIY Bamboo Edging
a) Is bamboo a good material for garden edging?
Yes, bamboo can last several years in your garden and is also a highly renewable material. However, while bamboo is ideal for your garden edging, it is not as durable as other alternatives like metal, stone, and plastic. So, you will need to replace the edging after a few years, although that would be better if you wish to change your landscaping often.
b) Is bamboo garden edging costly?
One of the main benefits of using any bamboo is its affordability. Since bamboo trees grow faster than other wood sources and are also easy to maintain, it makes the perfect choice for creating your garden beds and edging.
c) How long will bamboo edging last?
Since bamboo is a natural resource to use in your outdoor space, it is prone to faster deterioration compared to other types of wood or edging materials like plastic, metal, or stone. The bamboo edging will last up to four years, but pre-treated bamboo stakes can last longer.
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