This weekend was all about planting. Not only did I get the vegetables in the ground I also planted my cascade hop rhizomes. I know it is a bit late but I don’t think too late, either way they were only 4 bucks and I am not too serious about it but being that they take like 2 years to be able to harvest I wanted to do it sooner than later. For some reason I got 3 in my bunch, not sure if this is typical but I planted them all in a 3 foot space which should get great sun and little wind. I know the instructions say to keep them 3 feet apart but I have mine much closer, I hope this doesn’t screw them up but as I said, I am not too serious about it, all I hope for is like two decent vines so I can use for dry hopping when I home brew which I should really start getting on but I seem to be really busy even though I really don’t know what is taking up my time. My wife and I will be looking at trellis in the next few weeks or I may just build one. It will be right on the side of my house and the roof is only like 12 feet high so it could be higher but oh well, I made due with what I could.
Last night I cracked my last bottle of the superstar brewing combo stylings of Three Floyd’s and Dogfish Head’s Pop Skull. When I had this at the brewery I thought it was excellent, but while with a clean palate it didn’t appeal to me as much the second time around. Don’t get me wrong, it is a very nice brew but second time around it tasted very similar to a lot of beers out there. The only bright spot was the fact that it was aged in Palo Santo wood which gave it a very nice all around flavor to it. Not powerful like oaked aging but just subtle enough to give it an earthy flavor. But overall it is a brown, but an exceptional one, just not my favorite style. However by the end I found myself liking it even more so who knows, I have found myself to fall in and out of love with styles so maybe I should give these browns another chance.
Three Floyd’s and Dogfish Head’s Pop Skull
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Don’t be too concerned about a late start growing hops. Generally you don’t get much of a hop yield the first year anyway. As far as 3 hop rhizomes in a 3 foot space, you will have plenty of hop bines in that area next year. One bit of advice – I would use twine or rope over a trellis. It is much easier at harvest time to drop the ropes rather than untangle the bines from a trellis (personal opinion – shared by many). Anway, welcome to the hop grower’s club!
Thanks for the advice, love your site by the way. My wife wants the trellis to make that spot look pretty. I was thinking maybe hanging twine within the trellis so we are both happy. I really don’t expect to yield too much so it may not be that big of a deal. Either way I will keep up with my progress.