Hopping Along

Last week I had an epiphany. We wanted some kind of vine to grow up the sides of our new canopy - something that would do okay in a container, grow relatively quickly, and would die back in the winter.

I suddenly realized that I utilize the fruits of such a plant every time I brew beer. Hops!

After convincing Katy I wasn't making this all up, I headed over to my semi-local brewing supply store to get some rhizomes. They had a good selection and I ended up with two types: Cascade and Kent-Golding. The Cascade hops are from the Yakima Valley in Washington and are used heavily by American craft brewers. The Kent-Golding hops are a little bit more old-school, as they are a traditional Old English hop dating to the late 1700s.

Here are the Cascade rhizomes: (Yes, apparently I paid good money for two sticks.)

I filled a couple terra cotta pots with soil and placed said sticks 1" below the surface. Here they are before I covered them up:

Apparently hops are vigorous growers once they get going. I have seen reports of six to twelve inches of new growth a day. If that happens I will get some more pictures - in the meantime here are the pots, freshly watered and labeled.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks there will be some visible progress.