Another fine (if windy) evening, so after work we set off on a quest to find some more hops, and ending up seeing far more things to note than initially expected.
Firstly, these hops are growing up permanent open wire mesh panels rather than strings - greater capital expenditure, lower operational expenditure, but a right nuisance to harvest? Also, the growth is so patchy, with some bines already reaching the top well before the end of May but others barely above knee height, and it all looks rather unkempt, so is this a failed experiment?
However, right next door, there is a very tidy plot, with the footpath ideally placed for observers (if not the farmer) right through the middle - you couldn't be more "In the hop garden" if you tried! Getting this close, you also notice that each plant only has two strings rather than the usual four, which suggests that any loss of yield is more than offset by the lower manual labour input required?
More from around here tomorrow....