Last year, I had some ambitious hop-growing goals. I had 14 plants, growing in containers, and 10 of them were devoted to an experiment to determine the best time to prune southern-grown hops. 

I haven't posted a blog entry for awhile, so here's a scattershot update of what I've been doing and what will be coming up on my blog.

Earlier this year, I began a hop experiment. The hypothesis was that Southern US hop growers could produce better quality hops if they cut their vines back in early May.  This would delay development so that the hop cones would mature after the peak temperatures of summer. Unfortunately, the experiment is not going to yield any usable data this year.

My hop plants sprouted in late February and have been growing well ever since. This year, I am conducting an experiment in my hopyard.

I brewed my first batch of 2009 on Sunday. A few days later than planned, but I got it done. I brewed an American pale ale (recipe below) with two slight twists.

I dug up one of my Northern Brewer hop rhizomes a couple days ago to split it into two pieces and replant it. I need some hops of the same kind, from the same rhizome stock, for an experiment this year. Here's a picture of how big this rhizome got in one year:

It's been awhile since I've updated my blog, so here's a rundown on what I've been up to.

Well, my idea to grow and malt my own barley will have to be put off at least another growing season as all my barley has died. I planted two blocks of barley and one block of wheat in my garden this year. The wheat developed fine, but the barley never developed its heads. (If you know anything about barley development, it looks like it got to the "boot" stage and then died.) I suspect it was the Texas heat.

Most sequels aren't as good as the original. There are, of course, a couple exceptions. Aliens, the 1986 sequel, was at least as good as the original 1979 movie, Alien. With that in mind, I'll try to make this blog entry at least as interesting as the first "Beer Gardening" entry. The previous one dealt with me watching the (barley) grass grow, so I think I've got a good shot here.

In my last blog, I mentioned growing and malting my own barley as a project for 2008. And, thanks to a run of nice weather, I had the time to plant two 5' by 9' (1.5 x 2.7 m) blocks of barley. I also got one 5' by 9' block of spring wheat planted. I planted the first blocks of barley and wheat on Thursday and the second block of barley on Saturday -- and the first two blocks are already up! (Yes, I am excited about watching grass grow.)