I went nuts when I planted my container garden on my apartment's patio this spring. I have 4 or 5 different peppers, 3 tomato plants, and all sorts of other ridiculousness.
All this pales in comparison of how absolutely 'fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants' I got with the last addition. I decided that I must have hops in my garden. I also decided that I needed three different varieties, not one. I went online, found a good website that sells hop rhizomes, and went nuts! I bought a Magnum (high alpha acid, used to bitter), Nugget (used to bitter, but also frequently used in stouts), and Cascade (the true representation of American hops!) variety.
Hops are generally harvested in mid-August to mid-September. This is for hops being grown in much higher latitudes than Tucson. It is mid-September and they still are not quite ready to harvest, but this is expected due to our location.
Below are some pictures I took a couple of weeks ago, when the plants were just budding hop cones. It's been a very interesting progression to watch! I pulled off two a few days ago, crushed them, and smelled the aroma. Wow, beautiful flavor inside these fresh hops!
Some of the earliest cones on the Magnum vine
Buds that will eventually be full fledged hop cones
The mature vine across the twine trellis
