This week has been in the 60's for the most part and we got some pretty decent rain last night and this morning. My tulips are still progressing, and I am watching my bamboo closely.

The area where I am trying to grow my bamboo is in a mulch bed that has landscape fabric under the mulch. These bamboo shoots are very strong, but I still have to let them loose when they start to shoot. I check the area around the main culms and look for any bumps. They will push the fabric up, but they can't break through, so I have to cut them loose. I have high hopes for my bamboo this year. They say that the first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps and the third year it leaps. Since I planted the in early October I hope that 2007 counts as the first year, and that I can just skip the creeping year by taking really good care of them. I am going to replenish the mulch in all my beds in about two weeks, and before I do that, I am going to put down cow manure on top of the bamboo area. Let it sit for a day or two and then put the mulch on top. They have good sprinkler coverage, full sun and the addition of fertilizer should give them a good head start.

As soon as they start to shoot I will start a forum thread to track their progress.

I made a little progress on my pool equipment area yesterday. I got all the debri taken care of and got it raked out. I need to decide what ground cover material I want to use. I am still pretty convinced that small pebbles are the answer. Maybe this weekend I can button that one up.

Thanks for listening.