A few bits of advice needed re: neighbours bamboo on border, cinque foil control, and raised beds (they all kind of connect!)

[BewareTheBeardedDragon]

On my sunny boundary I have three raised beds right next to the fence, to make the most of the favourable aspect for veg growing. Neighbour has several huge and/or invasive plants directly next to the fence on the other side including Laurel, bamboo and sumac. Also much uncontrolled ivy.

I have just cleared a space for planting my new pear tree that I've just ordered, which will also be placed against the fence, between two of the raise beds, again to take advantage of the aspect.

I feel like it would be prudent to place a root barrier under the fence, along the boundary to keep neighbours plants out, and mine in. Obv I have to do this before planting my lovely new tree (it's not here yet, probably have a few weeks til it arrives).

I could just put barrier behind the tree, but that would not cover the places where the bamboo are and I'm quite worried about these as they're new and I know how invasive they can become.

I will have to remove my raised beds in order to sink root barrier where the bamboos are.

I have many many slugs in my garden, and Charles Dowding suggests that wooden raised beds are actually bad because they can provide lurking spots for slugs. I am wondering about removing them completely and just maintaining the beds raised up without a barrier around like he does.

But I have cinque foil through my lawn, I will not use weed killer so I think I just have to accept ongoing control because I can't realistically eradicate it. It currently grows up to the wooden bed edges, and tries to creep under, but it's relatively easy to prevent this. If I remove the wood will it just invade Willy nilly and be impossible to control? Is there any low growing plant I could plant as a boundary to the beds which would deter the cinque foil, but not invade the beds itself?

Probably too many questions in one post, but I have it all going round and round in my mind right now.

Some bamboo is invasive with a creeping rootstock. Other species are clumping, and non-invasive. Not all bamboo is bad! You could ask your neighbour what the name of their bamboo is. I'd still probably do the root barrier though.

I have my grass bordered with a strip of stone slabs about 8-12 inches wide. It's a lot easier to control pioneer plants like cinquefoil and the creeping grasses if there's a no-go zone between grass and bed. I wish I had cinquefoil in my grass - such a lovely flower, pale clear yellow like a beautiful single rose.

It's easier to control unwanted plants in a veg bed which is going to be cleared of plants at intervals, than in a bed of perennials, where you have to rely on the perennials being thuggish enough to repel boarders.

I have clumping bambo, only planted last year.

I researched quite a lot before planting and it seems that the best thing to do for planting is to plant in raised earth and then dig a trench filled with something loose (sand?) around, and every season you check in the channel and chop any rhizome sprouts trying to get across.

The explanation was that bamboo roots growing habit is normally shallow and a root barrier would force growth to try to get under or through, which is going to be somewhere more difficult to get to when you discover it.

Whereas the trench method is easier to spot and remove breakouts before they become a problem.

I realise the bamboo is already there and not on your property but this could give you another option.

Thanks for all the input!!

I decided to go for the barrier, having read that the bamboo root are shallow but I hadn't thought of it forcing them downwards. Crap.

But the good news is that only one lot of bamboo is actually in the ground on their side - the others are currently in pots and chatted to neighbour who is planning to plant the in the pots with the bottom cut out. I will suggest the sand trench method to them.

I spent a week digging a 10m trench to about 35cm deep. My garden is on solid clay and 'gravel' aka fuck off huge flints . I dug to and slightly into the clay/gravel layer. I didn't encounter any shrub roots below the topsoil so fingers crossed it's deep enough. I could have gone deeper but tbh I was nearly dead from the effort of it... so fingers crossed.

Slabs to prevent invaders sounds great, but I've been reading/watching Charles Dowding who reckons that the best way to discourage slugs is to have no hiding places nearby for them, and I'm worried that slabs or bricks (which I have many of) would hinder this aim. Slugs are the scourge of my life! I wonder whether a brick path, sunk into the ground would not give the evil veg eaters lurking space? I feel on balance that slugs are worse than cinquefoil?

Cinquefoil is very pretty, it's a shame it's so bloody invasive. Like bindweed with its lovely flowers