black bamboo grove

Beautiful weather this weekend. Frosts at night but the daytime temp is about 20C so it is irresistible to be outside... and we had a job to do:

This photo shows the patch of black bamboo in our garden.
Over the years we have let it go a bit, a very heavy frost one year killed off the tallest stems that rose about 7 meters and poked out the top of the mass.

Inside it is very thick with dead stems. Walking into the bamboo grove is a beautiful experience so these old stems have become a problem

After 2 whole days of extremely hard work, we now have an open bamboo grove, but an enormous load of dead stems to dispose of.