Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Porch Chaos and Hops Buds

Here's a window into my porch, my main center of potting and planting. I seem to have an ongoing fight with myself to eliminate small seedling pods. I keep planting things out and then acquiring new plants somehow.

The majority in this 1st image are Siam queen and lemon basil. I was at a nursery in Washington county that had some pots with 50+ seedlings crowded together which I couldn't resist buying and dividing. Most are planted out somewhere.
Next is the front wall. The salvia guaranitica keeps getting bigger so I keep moving the pots next to it further and further away. I think I have it settled now. This black and blue sage is a magnet for hummingbirds. I have seen 3 this past weekend make a beeline for it and spend considerable time feeding at more than a dozen blooms. The cypress vine is starting to climb so I poked bamboo into the planter for them to reach a good height. I hope that it makes a good screen.
Here's my secondary table with some now empty vases. Projects on this table include future bean seedlings. I decided to pod plant them 1st because the cats often disturb bare soil in bad ways(I mostly suspect SALLY). Better to let these get a little bit of growth before placing them in their final spot. There's also a couple black and blue stalks that broke when I poked the bamboo in that I am trying to root. I think I want a planting or 2 on my back porch to better see more hummingbirds.
And finally, the cascade hops are getting ready. It looks like we'll have a lot more than last year. Many of my wild hops are starting to show similar signs. I should be able to sex them soon.
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2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello Gabrielle.
You mentioned wild hops and I'm curious to know how you came across them. The hope I've grown have all been female and propagated from cuttings.

Gabrielle Marsden said...

They aren't really wild, just unknown. They have a reddish stem. I have a friend who worked for someone who has a bit of an 'alternate reality' who planted 2 varieties of hops and has no recollection of what they planted.

I asked him to bring me a couple rhizomes and he brought me a pot full of hops SEEDLINGS. I found a source on the internet, that I can't find now that listed a bunch of varieties and referred to a couple that were traditionally bred to increase the hop output. According to Homebrew Wiki, these seedlings could be a landrace variety of hops which are often open pollinated.

I have no reason to believe that Pittsburgh has any hops varieties but these were growing, coincidentally behind an old brewery, formerly the Duquesne Brewery, which was known for brewing cheap beer. I do not have any reason to believe that these hops have anything to do with that as I believe that they were planted there decades after the brewery closed.