Here in Minnesota, winter has begun to knock on our door. The leaves are off
the trees and in the compost. It's snowed once or twice already. We've
delivered the seasons first deer kills to the processor, and now, only the folly
of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years are on the "excitement" calendar.
Sure there are many weekends of brewing to look forward to in the coming cold
months, but I can't help but look forward to the spring.
Like many home brewers, in the wake of the "terrible" world wide hop crisis, I
reacted by planting my first home grown hops. By the end of the harvest I had
amassed a grand total of one half pound of nugget cones (dry). They sit in the
freezer awaiting the mystery brews that will make use of them. One thing I
harvested this year, I never imagined I would gain... A genuine love of growing
hops.
I do have a background in landscaping, and although I know the proper way to
plant something, any one that knows me will testify that the color of my thumbs
are anything but green. I can create for you the most beautiful stone patio in
the world, but I will kill the plants that surround it. So armed with the
knowledge gained on HBT and the rhizomes from Hops direct I set out to single
handedly solve my own personal hop crisis.
I started with six rhizomes and soon found myself ordering more... cause I like
to kill plants. By the time I had established my garden, I had killed more than
seven plants and ended up with a final success rate of 36%. Of the four plants
that survived, I had Nuggets that produced a half pound of cones and Fuggles
that produced about a half an ounce. I've heard some say that it was a
respectable harvest for first year hops, either way, I gained so much more.
I was excited the first day that I saw the young shoots protruding from the
ground. I was amazed by the rate at which they grew. From May to October, each
and every day, I would walk the garden on my way to and from the truck
bracketing my day of work. I found myself spending time examining the tiny buds
while perched precariously from the top step of my six foot ladder, and dragging
any willing human being that stopped by out to "check this out". I even
developed the habit of "measuring up" against my buddy Sean's crop progress on
almost a daily basis via the telephone.
Now the flurries are busy spiraling to the earth and my hop crowns are nestled
'neath the piles of compost and dry leaves waiting for the sun to once again
warm my back yard. So what's in store for next year? Well, I managed to
convince the the SWMBO that a hop trellis next to the garage will really look
nice. I figure I'll be able to get six nugget, six cascade, three fuggle, and
three Kent Golding in next year. So as long as I can keep from killing the
plants, I should be able to enjoy another year of hop growing.
