New hop farmer

[mrkrausen]

Well my day off was well spent. I had my hops in hand and went to get all the supplies to get my hop garden started. It is really nothing out of the ordinary but I'm excited so I thought I'd share. I live in an apartment so my dad let me use a spot in his yard. In all it took me ~6 hours. I'm pretty pleased, as this is my first gardening venture. on the left there is a Cascade rhizome and on the right is a Nugget.

In the last picture I have a post attached to the fence with some eye hooks attached at the top. I think I'm actually going to make a crossbar at the top and run some chicken wire from the bed to the top of the post. I have some plastic chicken wire laying around. I had planned on planting the hops and brewing today but I don't think that's going to have to wait until tomorrow.

 

[mrkrausen]

More pics

 

[badbrew]

So what's the plastic for? You are going to take it out eventually right? Or is that some kind of permeable weed barrier? I'd ditch personally because it will block drainage.

 

[mrkrausen]

Yeah it's a weed barrier. It says that it allows for drainage so I thought it would be worthwhile to put down. If it seems to hinder drainage I'll take it up.

 

[jonos7]

I't take it out for sure its not really that big of an area you can always use a shovel to turn the weeds over. Plus I think it might make cutting back the rhizomes a pain.

 

[StanJohnson]

A weed barrier is usually put down in an area where you don't want anything to grow, such as a gravel driveway, a walkway with stepping stones, etc. You will still get weeds in your hop garden. They will grow in the same top level of dirt that the hops will be growing in. Plus, the weed barrier may limit the rhizome's roots from growing to a proper depth.

 

[mrkrausen]

Damnit... A couple of articles I read about how to do a raised bed suggested it. I'm new to gardening in general so I'm not surprised mistakes were made. Thank you for the replies. Looks like i have more work to do when I get off. Sigh, 10 bucks wasted.

 

[StanJohnson]

You'll never be able to stop weeds completely. The best thing to try to limit weed grow, in my opinion, would be cypress mulch. It helps slow down weed growth plus it will help the soil retain moisture. It's what I use for my hops, in my garden and in our flower beds.

 

[mrkrausen]

Yeah it was a beginner's mistake. And just my luck it's been raining hard all day. Now I'm going to have to wait for it to dry some before I take up that weed barrier.

 

[mrkrausen]

I got out there and removed the weed barrier today after work. It wasn't too painful a process. The rhizomes hadn't broken ground yet but I did see some signs of growth. I'm pretty excited. Thanks again for the info.

 

[StanJohnson]

You're welcome and good luck.

 

[mrkrausen]

Well after a week and a day, my cascade has broken ground:rockin: The nugget has yet to show any action but I'm not concerned yet as I realize that they can take some time. Time to set up the twine so this baby can start climbing. Thanks again for all the hepful replies.

 

[StanJohnson]

Lookin' good.

 

[copyright1997]

Too late, but when I was having some gardening done last year, I had a roll of weed block. The person looked at it and told me to throw or give it away, as it is a mess to deal with after being laid for a while. . They used cardboard box and newpaper as the block with mulch/compost over top. It decomposes and allows whatever your planting to work its roots while still killing whatever initial weeds might have been there.

 

[mrkrausen]

Yeah I wish I would have known ahead of time but I am glad that it was brought to my attention early on. I like the idea of the cardboard/newspaper though Copyright, I will use that for sure.

 

[mrkrausen]

Well the waiting is over. My nugget broke ground today!