A little over a month ago, we purchased a couple of hops plants from our friends at Spotty Dog Farm. They did well under the grow lights until the weather warmed a bit, but when it came time to plant them out, the biggest one got completely fried and died back (even though I hardened it off again for quite a while and it was perfectly happy in its pot). The other one just disappeared.
Well in the hope that they would recover/reappear, we kept watering them and look what’s happening…
It’s coming back!!! Yay! We’re planning on running a rope from the bed up to the roof (we have a two story house) so it will have plenty of room to grow. We’re also hoping a couple more will pop up, too 🙂 As of now, we’re not planning to make beer…yet! Maybe someday we will, but right now that just seems like another big project that we don’t really have time for. Instead, to start, I’m looking at the hops as an herbal remedy.
Did you know that, aside from making yummy adult beverages, hops have many uses and are beneficial:
- as a sleep aid
- to calm stress and anxiety
- to help with digestive issues
- to help treat pain in the bladder or urinary tract
I had no idea that hops that those properties! Drat..now my husband will really be able to sell his wish to grow some 😉
Would you look at that. I mean. Look at it. 🙂 Fresh beer in the garden.
Right?! Pretty darn exciting!!!
Right?! Super exciting!!!
Well done for nurturing this poor specimen back to health. Apart from all their usefulness, they also make pretty dried flower arrangements, strung around the top of doorways (if that’s your kinda thing) : )
Thanks! I’m hoping for a quick and full recovery 🙂 Thanks for the dried decorative tip! I’m excited to experiment with it all once they thrive all summer!!!
You go Hops!
I love when that happens. I’m always so reluctant to pull anything out of the ground that’s crispy, just in case it comes up from the root.
Awesome!
Yes! I think this was part intention and part busy-ness. Our distraction form pulling it saved it, but our intention to water it helped, too 😉
That is going to make a huge vine. You’ll have to keep hopping to keep up with such growth. I’m growing new varieties of tomatoes and pumpkins this year, but not new species. BTW, I gave Tool Girl another shoutout in my blog today. I had to use my new cordless power saw to cut a board. Very intimidating, but I made a nice, straight cut and got my third and last bed built today.
It’s always exciting to grow something new, whether it be varieties or species!
Thanks for giving Tool Lady another shout out! She is quite inspiring 🙂 So glad you’re “playing” with power tools now! How empowering!!!
So my question is, are Hops perennials? Will they come back/multiply in future years? I’d like to try some if I can somehow naturalize it or at least keep some going. Thanks for the info, too neat!
Yes! They are perennials and they multiply! Apparently you have to divide them every couple of years! That’s we got these guys. Our friend lives just outside of Santa Fe so our hops are used to our harsh climate…so getting some locally if you can would be ideal 🙂 They grow really tall (like 15-20 feet tall) and like to wrap themselves around a rope or something similar. Hopefully ours will continue to grow and I can do more posts about them!
I also didn’t know about the different uses for hops. Hope you get a few more popping up soon
Me too! there was supposed to be three in our pot…my fingers are crossed that the other two will pop up soon 🙂
I thought hops was for beer making only, thanks for the information about the other uses, glad to learn something new. Dlad your hops reappear.
I thought that too, until recently! I love to find multiple uses for garden items 🙂
Hops is on the agenda for us next year. It is good to know that if I do decide to plant some, but lack the time to brew up something tasty, it still has some other uses!
Nice! I’m excited to see what kind you grow and how they do where you are!