Want to grow hops and vegetables which type of garden is best??

Alright, just like it sounds. The SWMBO and I want to have our first vegetable garden and I also want to do some horizontal hops on the fence. The part of our yard that gets the most sun is against the fence line, so I think that the garden would need to be against that. Should we do a raised bed or something else.

Thanks,
Jacob

I am starting my second hop garden this year. It will be a raised garden along my fence, facing south to get the sun.

The advantage of the raised garden is numerous.

Better temperature, easier to access, great drainage, non compacted soil, all things that will make hops even happier.

Over the years, your rhizome will grow and if you don't cut it down it could cross with other rhizomes as the crowd each other. What I'm doing is "subdividing" my raised garden. I am using cinder blocks (I've got about a billion) and I making containers that are roughly 4'*5'. There is no way the rhizome will grow through my blocks. I'm running the hop garden along the fence and in front of it I will have a raised garden for whatever non-hop stuff I plant this year.

I think a raised garden is a great way to control the area your hops occupy. Possibly more crucial than your soil is how you will support them. Put a lot of thought into your trellis. Try not to compact your hops (step on them) as you work the trellis. Ensure that your trellis can support both your hops AND a STRONG wind. Anyone can prop up a 20 foot tall peice of PVC. Will it stay up in a wind storm? I saw a guy that used an old steel fence. It was really cool looking, until it fell on his car during a rain storm. Not urban legend! I saw it! Your raised garden will be great, worry about your trellis.

There is no way the rhizome will grow through my blocks. I

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I suspect the hops will view the blocks as an excellent source of minerals.

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

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I'm thinking this is what my hops are going to look like on the fence, but instead of the nice flower bed, it will be a rectangle of 2x6's with one side being the fence for my raised bed. I'm thinking it will be about 10'-12' long and 3' wide so I can have easy access without having to step on my compost. Do you think a 6" deep bed is good enough?

I did 12 inch sides for my raised beds. I highly recommend that or higher.