One of the plants I’m really excited about at the moment are hops Miss Fuggles just sent to me. She sent me rhizomes from her three different varieties; Fuggles, Mathon and Cobb. I don’t honestly know a lot about hops, but I’m eager to see how they grow. I understand they can grow to 25ft (6 meters), but I understand these varieties won’t grow so tall. At the moment I’m planning on about 16ft (4 meters). If they get bigger, I’ll have to figure something else out.
I understand hops also like to grow vertically, but I don’t have any good way of building a 4 meter tall vertical structure in my garden, and the best I could come up with is what you see in the picture above, a pole with rope tied to the top at an angle.
Has anyone else grown hops? Am I doing something terribly wrong?
All three varieties survived the trip in the mail, and have started to grow. They all look a bit like this right now.
As always, once these become established in my garden, I’ll be happy to send out more rhizomes to anyone else interested.
Where I lived in the France there were many fields of hops. HUGE! They had, I think, giant steel cables making a trellis supported by telephone poles. I think they will be fine growing on an incline rather than vertical, but I’m now hops farmer. The flowers are incredibly beautiful IMHO.
You can keep them short, like 2m, by shearing. Do you grow them for the flower (making beer) or for eating the spring shoots?
I have hops growing as weed in my garden, As I get photosensitive from contact with the plant, I try to get rid of it, but the last, a male plant, is growing in the midle of a Philadelphus – I have to live with it :-). I’m sure your construction will do allright, if you tie in any bewildered shoot. Depending on the clone, they can be more or less wildly rampant. I will strongly advise you to keep the roots away from bushes where the underground shoots can be very difficult to ge rid of.
In Denmark hops was traditionally cultivated on a contruction made from an old wheel on top of a stake, strings drawn from the wheel to the ground:
http://museum.odense.dk/dflmuseum/infostander/melby/billeder/106.JPG
I wish you all the best with the hops.
I love hops plants, and I love seeing the towers of them with flowers hanging all along them like green chandeliers. I also love the way the plant itself smells, herby, clean and sharp. I’m excited to see how they do in your garden.
Hi Patrick
Before I moved over here to France I lived in the wonderful village of Oakhanger hear Alton in Hampshire.
Alton was famous for its Courage brewery and much of the surrounding farmland, from Gilbert White’s Selborne and down and beyond the Isington – nr Bentley (Viscount Montgomery’s (of Alemein fame and both gardens I have worked in)- were given up to growing hops. Sadly the traditional brewery has all but gone and the oast houses turned into houses.
…I digress:-0))
I had natural hedges of Elm on two sides of my garden and every summer, wild hops would grow up through them. They did produce flowers and although I never tried, I understand that they could be used in beer making.
I will follow the story with interest:-0))
Kind regards
Phil
Thanks everyone for the comments and encouragement. Now I know to worry about them more as a weed rather than a plant I have to keep alive! I’ll let you all know how it turns out.
Patrick, I think hops are best as rabbit food.
Weed is an accurate description! Think mint…
They are adamant about being vertical, attempts to train ours horizontally have failed miserably, but they make a wonderful shade plant in a garden room, and the cones are quite mesmerizing!