Hood and Chinook Race to the Top

Well, since the last post just earlier this week, the Mt. Hood and Chinook have come quite a ways. The Hoods were introduced to their climbing lines, took hold, and have begun to wrap themselves! Sweet. I'm way too excited about this I think. The three replacement rhizomes came yesterday too and are now in the ground. Not expecting much from them, just want them to get a little growth and establishment. Hopefully they can kick ass next year. Here are the pics:

Mt. Hood

Mt. Hood

New Rhizomes

Chinook

Weed Free and oh so Close. Oooowheee!

Just got some more pics of the new and improved weed free C-Springs garden. I spoke with Ryan and he thinks they will be on the lines by the end of the week. Starting to get pretty exciting.

Also, I made it to the Greeley garden yesterday and am proud to announce that the Galena hops have broken ground (after being quite confused and growing downward). The Cascade plant in Greeley doesn't seem to be growing too much at all which concerns me, and something is eating it...bugs. It's all a bit weird because 5 feet away the Nugget plant is doing awesome. Like really awesome. Not as good as the Mt. Hoods but I suspect It'll be on its line also by the end of the week.

Here are some pics of the improved garden I just got from Ryan.

It's about bine! err....time?

Pretty horrible pun. I'm sorry. I just got some super hot pics from the Colorado Springs garden today as Ryan rushed out during a pause in the rain. It's been a pretty rainy weekend up here in Fort Collins and Greeley. No pictures of the Greeley plants but let me assure you that the Nugget is doing awesome. I also have planted Cascade and Galena in Greeley.

After no signs of life from the Galena I finally dug up the rhizome and to my surprise there were tons of shoots coming off of it. It was almost as if they were growing downward though. Not sure how this is possible. Anyway, I flipped it and anticipate it should break ground this week.

There were also three plants in the Springs that didn't grow. I thought that 6 had come up but was mistaken. We lost both of our Cascade plants. Luckily, the Cascade in Greeley are growing.

I ordered three more plants from freshops and am hoping that they arive this week. I guess I fear that the order may go for next season and not this one so I'm keeping my ears open as to whether they are received on Tuesday or Wednesday.

It looks like we ran into some weed issues too. I'm not sure if there were weed seeds in the mulch I bought or what, but I feel pretty crappy about it. The only place that is growing weeds is in the hop garden which is why we're thinking it was the mulch. Ryan has vowed to pull them which is super awesome, but I still wish I knew the root cause (no pun intended). Here's some pics. As you can see, the Mt. Hoods are getting close to needing the line to climb.

Not sure if I mentioned it, but we used clothesline for the diagonals.

Hops update! More Pictures

Well, I got some more pictures from the garden in Colorado Springs. Not all of the hops plants have broken ground, but so far I'm delighted with the progress of the Mt. Hoods. Next year should be better as the plants will be allowed to come up when they want to and not when I let them.

Here is a shot of the garden. It might give a better idea of the setup. Those are Jalapenos and Radishes in frontTwo good shots of the Mt. Hoods rockin' it


Bella the guard dog

The Fuggle Are Up

Got word yesterday that the one of the two Fuggle plants broke ground. The Mt. Hoods are progressing niceley as well. No pictures for this post. Maybe later in the week.

The Hops Are Up

Well, since no one is really writing for this anymore...I figured I may as well use it to track the growth of my Hops plants in Colorado Springs. Now, I know some of you don't care about this...but I bet that this is checked so infrequently, that it won't really matter.

The hops were planted three weeks ago and broke ground yesterday. Four varieties were planted: Fuggle, Cascade, Mt. Hood, and Chinook. The rhizomes were purchased from freshops out of Oregon. The Mt. Hood rhizomes were 'jumbos' and the rest were 'normal'. I purchased 2 of each not knowing what to expect.

The soil was tested as having a ph right around 7 using a cheap $5 soil tester bought from a local nursery. Steer manure was added for fertilization purposes and the top layer was mulched as was read to be a best practice.

Marigolds were planted around the hops (although they're struggling) as a means to naturally minimize the potential damage of pests. I read about someone doing this and thought it was a neat idea. I have no idea if it actually works.

The garden itself has southern exposure and should serve as a great location for growing hops. Here's a Microsoft Paint design of what the climbing system looks like:

And here's the Mt. Hoods breaking the soil...