ddroukas
Well-Known Member
Here's my interpretation of a hop garden. I need insight: did I do good? Will my hops explode? What if I have to go the bathroom ... who will watch my hops to see if they're growing while I'm gone?
The portion to the left is 6 feet square, with hops all spaced about 3.5 feet apart. One rhizome per mound. 2 Cascades to the left, 2 Nugget in the middle, and 2 Goldings on the right. Our soil is very rocky and clay-laden. I dug out about 6 inches deep for the whole garden, drug a pick ax through the soil to loosen it further, layed out several bags of top soil and compost, then covered liberally with mulch. Each mound, prior to planting, was dug out further an additional few inches, filled with a 2:1 mixture of miracle grow flower soil to shagnum with a little bit of wood ash mixed in from our natural wood grill. Mounds were about 8-12 inches high before adding the mulch around them. The central pole is 18 feet from ground to top and I used sisal rope. That particular area gets quality sun pretty much all day.
The portion to the left is 6 feet square, with hops all spaced about 3.5 feet apart. One rhizome per mound. 2 Cascades to the left, 2 Nugget in the middle, and 2 Goldings on the right. Our soil is very rocky and clay-laden. I dug out about 6 inches deep for the whole garden, drug a pick ax through the soil to loosen it further, layed out several bags of top soil and compost, then covered liberally with mulch. Each mound, prior to planting, was dug out further an additional few inches, filled with a 2:1 mixture of miracle grow flower soil to shagnum with a little bit of wood ash mixed in from our natural wood grill. Mounds were about 8-12 inches high before adding the mulch around them. The central pole is 18 feet from ground to top and I used sisal rope. That particular area gets quality sun pretty much all day.