Looks like my beergarden was a bust this year

And I had such hopes.  

Here's the last picture I took of the barley in my garden: 

Not the best framing, I know.  Nothing for scale.  Take my word for it.  The plants seem to have stopped growing.  The whole thing's turned into a spaghetti mess, all of them leaning on each other and trying to lie down and you can see some browning in there, too.  It's hemmed in by weeds on one side, where I can't effectively remove them without removing the chickenwire fence, and the tomato plants are encroaching, which I'm not going to change because at least we're getting lots of nice tomatoes.

Notes for next year:

• Do something about the sides of the garden; 
• Pile mulch;
• Erect the fence all the way on the outside of the brick retaining wall;
• Space rows further apart;
• Leave more room for weeding;
• Keep track of watering.

I have to remember that this is just an experiment.  I'm not trying to support myself with this.

My hops seem to have stopped growing, too, and I see no evidence of flowering.  I'm not too concerned about that: it's a first-year plant, so I didn't expect too much.