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. 

Unfortunately, this past summer was brutal. We had very hot temperatures all season long and we were in an exceptional drought for most of it. By watering the plants almost every day, I was able to keep them alive through all the heat, but the bines (hop vines are technically bines) yielded almost no cones. So, the experiment was a bust and  I didn't even have any home-grown hops to brew with. The only upside was that the plants actually survived. 

So, when this year rolled around, I decided to pick some more modest goals. Before deciding, I learned that my wife had accepted a job in Boston, and for awhile I thought that hop growing was out of the picture for me until next year. Later, we decided that she would move to Boston, get an apartment and the two of us would look for a house when I visited. So, next year, I'll (hopefully) be growing hops in Boston, but I've got one more season here in Bastrop, Texas. 

Eventually, I decided to grow one plant of each of the varieties I have — Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Nugget, Northern Brewer and Sterling. (I also planted some barley, which I'll discuss in a later blog entry.) Here are the hops: 

The plants sprouted in February this year, and I kept trimming them back until April 15th of this year. Wherever possible, I trained three bines to the trellis rope and one to the pole. This is more above ground growth than I've tried to sustain before in the container-grown-hops, but I'm giving it a try. (I want some hops to brew with!) 

So far, everything looks good. The bines are currently growing a couple inches every day and I'm giving them enough fertilizer to stay nice and green, but not to grow excessively. I've never encountered any insect problems in the five years I've grown hops down here, and hopefully this year will not be an exception. 

I'm getting excited to garden in a new region -- one extremely conducive to growing barley and hops (and giant pumpkins, which has become a mini side hobby of mine). I would really like to produce an "estate" beer -- one made with grains and hops I've grown myself. (If I grew some sort of fruit, I could also try to spontaneously ferment it and brew a beer similar to the Sumerian Happy Juice I brewed last year; in that case, even the yeast would come from my garden.)