Planted Hops

This year we're giving hops a try. I don't drink beer, but they look like fun plants to grow and what is more Pacific Northwest than hops?

I bought two 'Nugget' rhizomes from Territorial Seeds. We're using them as an arbor for the entrance to my husband's industrial garden area. I think it'll be a nice way to screen the view from the 50 gallon drums. We had to modify the path back to the compost bin by dividing the old rock lined beds into two planters for the hops.

My husband then dug out two holes, about 3' x 3' and about 10" deep. We back filled those with a blend of native clay, compost, sand and potting soil. We then added about 12" of 50% potting soil and 50% barnyard compost.

We planted the rhizomes 4" deep into the top layer, growth buds pointing up and gently spread the few roots out below.

Now we need to build the support structure so the vines have somewhere to go once things warm up. We plan to string a wire between the two giant sequoias that define that area of yard. We'll attach strong twine from the wire down to the hop plants. Seems pretty easy, we'll see how it plays out in real life.