Bamboo

I am wanting to plant bamboo as a boarder to gain some privicy from my neighbours.  My plan is to do so down the side of my patio, where I have a trench 8 inch wide and 8 inch deep........would this be deep enough for the roots of bamboo to grow?

Please help

Some bamboo are very invasive and can get to amazing heights. Have you thought of bamboo hedging you'll buy a roll of this from the local diy store or garden centre and then its instant privacy and alot cheaper!

Nope, sorry, the safe clump-forming ones (like phyllostachys) would need much more depth, and the not-safe running ones would go straight under your patio and come up through. Don't go near them. You could get more depth by building a raised bed along there, or you could plant them in ENORMOUS pots. I'm talking several FEET diameter. Raised brick/block bed is cheapest and best - more room to grow in a footprint you can keep tighter to the boundary. And you really don't need to be a master bricklayer as you can't go too wobbly with 3 or 4 courses of bricks or 2 breezeblocks. Did it myself at my last house along the side of the garage. And I'm a GIRL!

Oh, I did work out how many bricks would need to be split in half and got the builder's merchant guy to do it for me before I chucked em in the boot! I ended up with 2 planters about 4ft wide, and 2ft front to back and high. You could grow bamboo in that, especially as theres soil underneath too. Put plenty of manure in with soil based compost (like John Innes) and you're good.

Firstly, I'm wondering what hedging or fencing exists between you and your neighbour at the moment, and whether it might be simplest to beef that up.

In my opinion, your bamboo screening idea would work.

It's possible to grow very large bamboos in very small pots. Here's a young Phylostachys growing in a pot in my own garden...

 
That plant will grow much bigger, and would grow satisfactorily in a much smaller pot than that one. Garden centres will have tall bamboos for sale, to take away, in very small pots. The main problem about growing a bamboo in a small pot is that they can topple over.

The photo above illustrates the main problem you'll have... Most bamboos have a habit that is described as 'graceful'. That means that when it rains, the plant effectively flops. So if you plant this alongside a path you'll get wet when you walk past.

There are a few bamboos that do not flop. Suppliers describe these as 'erect' or 'bolt upright'.

So you'd need a bamboo that is clump-forming (not invasive), and evergreen, and erect, and of a suitable height for your purposes. I'm sure a specialist supplier could advise you of a suitable variety.

You might also consider plants such as Arundo donax (Spanish reed). It's very tall and very upright, and will grow in a pot, though it's not evergreen. Or some tall erect varieties of Miscanthus, which are very similar.

thisisnewtome wrote (see)

...Gary think I will take your suggestion and look at the pot grown ones...

Sorry, I didn't actually intend suggesting that you should grow bamboos in pots. I was simply making the point that bamboos will grow in pots, and they don't need a large depth of soil, and so they they should grow in your trench satisfactorily.

It is far better to grow bamboos in the soil if you can. They will have better access to water, and be more stable.