Tips for screening a driveway fence line that nobody talks about

We went the galvanized stock tank route about four years ago after my spouse wouldn't budge on wanting bamboo next to our asphalt turnaround. I picked up three 6-foot Behlen Country oval tanks from Tractor Supply, drilled about twenty 1/2-inch drainage holes in the bottom of each, and set them directly on concrete pavers so the steel wouldn't rot out against the wet mulch. We planted Fargesia robusta 'Campbell' in them.

It definitely spared our pavement from getting cracked, but your partner shold know stock tanks create thier own chores. becasue the root ball is elevated above the ground, the soil bakes and dries out insanely fast in July. I had to run drip lines on a timer, otherwise the leaves curl up tight within 24 hours. Plus, after year three, they got so rootbound that water was just sheeting down the inside metal walls without soaking the core.

If you end up compromising on the tanks, line the interior sides with thin rigid foam board before filling them with potting mix if you live anywhere that drops below 20 degrees. That kept our root balls from freezing solid during our first bad cold snap.

Show them an asphalt invoice instead. Re-edging and patching 50 linear feet after rhizomes compromise your sub-base will easily run you $3,500 to $5,000. People forget that even a properly compacted 6-inch 21A crushed aggregate base has tiny voids, and running bamboo will snake right thru that base material before punch-shearing the 2.5-inch asphalt cap from underneath. If you want instant 8-foot coverage that won't ruin your grade, just plant *Thuja* 'Green Giant' spaced 5 feet on center. Once rhizomes nest inside your crushed stone, a simple overlay won't fix it—you're looking at a full tear-out.

Spot on about the 60-mil barrier, but one crucial detail you left out: you cannot bury that HDPE flush with the dirt. You have to leave a solid 2 to 3 inches of the plastic lip sticking out above grade.

Rhizomes will literally surf right over the top edge hidden under a half-inch of mulch or fallen leaves if it sits level with the lawn. If you don't leave that visible rim to spot and clip the jumpers every autumn, the whole trenching job is basially useless.

Keep in mind that if you acutally attempt to excavate that recommended 30-inch trench parallel to your driveway, you run the immediate risk of undermining the aggregate base course through loss of lateral confinement, particularly if you operate a mechanical trencher within the critical load-distribution zone (roughly a 1:1 slope down from the edge of the pavement). The vibration alone will disrupt your sub-base compaction, meaning you will likely cause severe longitudinal edge cracking the first time an axle load gets near that unconfined shoulder, long before any subterranean runner even has the chance to reach the pavement.

Quick update — quoting that $4k asphalt repair estimate actualy worked to kill the in-ground idea completley. We're compromising on the galvanized stock tanks, but I'm still stuck on keeping the roots from baking on hot days since they'll sit right on the blacktop. For anyone running tanks on asphalt, did you elevate them on pavers for drainage, or just drill and set them flat?