I'd really meant to do more beergarden blogging...

...which is to say, blogging about the barley and hops in my garden. Not blogging from a beergarden. Although, now that I've thought of it...

I shared a few pictures in previous posts, so some of these may be duplicating past effort. Here's my four rows of barley from May 15:


And here on May 21:


I obviously need to standardize my lighting somehow.

And here's the same garden over a month later, on July 12:

Yikes! Get a haircut, hippie!

So a couple things there: weed control has been a problem, especially directly to the left of the barley. I'll mulch that area better next time, and space my rows further apart. Maybe a good foot next time.

Also, that old phrase "knee-high by the Fourth of July" may not - hopefully does not - apply to home-grown barley, because it still isn't. Oh, it's growing. Maybe a foot tall. I could call it knee-high if my five-year-old nephew from Michigan comes to visit, but that doesn't seem likely. Maybe I could borrow a local kindergartener.

That won't make the barley any taller, but what the hell.

My plans remain solid. Whatever I get from these plants, I'll save a handful for future planting, and malt the rest for home brew. Which reminds me:

That was my sole remaining hops plant on June 27. It's quite a bit taller now.