Growing Hops!

So we are totally doing it. We are going to try to grow hops. It seems like the natural home brewer progression, after all. Order has been placed: 2 rhizomes of Cascade and 2 rhizomes of Nugget which seem to be beginner-friendly. (Time will tell…)

I have 5 days to figure out where to plant them. The empty half wine barrel seems like a good candidate.  I like that it is somewhat mobile in case we need to move the hops between seasons. It seems like we have two good sunny spots in the backyard and the front drive. I think I will plant two rhizomes in each spot and see how they do. 

What I am trying not to do is piss off the neighbors with a 15 foot monster-trellis but perhaps regular deliveries of home brew on their doorstep will help with that potential situation!  But maybe I am thinking like a renter still. It’s my property right? I finally get to grow what I want to grow!  Who cares that it could grow as high as a two-story house? It may be prudent to bribe them, I mean, give them a few more 6-packs per brewing session, just-in-case! Everyone loves free beer! And everyone loves a good neighbor!

I would like to see how the hops do before investing the time and expense in making or buying a permanent trellis so maybe this year we will use the twine creatively to connect to our existing structures.  I will keep you posted. 

Cheers!

-The Beer Dietitian

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