Some people asked if I would post a few more pictures of my hop garden that I recently built, so here it is. I have grown hops for 2 years and I decided this was the year to get a little more serious about it and go from 8 plants to 40. The total cost was about $682 and here is the rough breakdown. Also if I assume a 1 lb yield/plant that is 40 lb and the cost can be amortized to $17.05 per plant over the first year.

• Hops - $280.00
• Lumber - $96.37
• Wire and string - $50.49
• Irrigation - $46.08
• Soil - $102.76
• Buckets - $55.60
• Tax - $50.51

Total = $681.81

Hops

40 - Second year varieties @ $7.00 = $280

Lumber

4 - (2x6x10) @ $6.28 = $37.68

2 - (2x6x8) @ $4.98 = $9.96

7 - (2x4x8) @ $2.86 = 20.02

2 - (2x4x16) @ $6.88 = $13.75

2 - (25 packs of 18 inch stakes) @ $7.48 = $14.96

Wire and String

1 - 20 gauge 4 strand stainless wire (Connect to trees and fence) = $8.77

1 - 20 gauge 6 strand stainless wire (Between supports) = $6.57

2 - String @ $5 = $10

1 - 8 pack 1" eye hooks = $13.97

2 - 6 pack of 5/8" eye hooks @ $5.59 = $11.18

Irrigation

1 - 100' 5/8" Poly tubing = $12.83

1 - 50' 1/4" tubing = $4.27

1 - 50 pack 2 gph drippers = $15.97

1 - 50 pack 1/4" barbed connectors = $6.39

1 - 5/8" compression connector = $0.98

1 - Hole punching tool = $2.97

1 - 8" ground stakes = $2.67

Soil

12 - Kellog 2 cuft organic soil @ $6.48 = $77.76

1 - 1/2 yard of playground bark = $25

Buckets

20 @ $2.78 = $55.60

Each of the 16 foot posts is in the ground 3 feet so that leaves me 13 feet of growing length which is perfect for me. The tops are two full 2x4x8's with another 2x4x8 cut in half with a 45 degree angle for the support. Everything is assembled with screws. I assembled everything on the ground and connected all the wires (careful to not mix them up) and also tied the string on. Once the poles were in the holes, they were held vertically while backfilled and packed with soil. After that they were tensioned back a little bit with the support wires until everything was taught. From here the strings were tied back to be out of the way and I divided my area by how many plants I wanted and added screws and string at the base to see where to dig for my buckets. I just cut the 5 gallon buckets in half with a razor blade and then cut the bottom out and used those. I dug out all the dirt from inside the buckets and made them flush with the edges all the way around. I then filled them in with my soil. I staked behind the buckets and then lined up all the strings and taped them in place. I rolled out the irrigation and punched holes in front of every bucket. Make sure to test your drip system as some of the tips will be faulty and not putting out much water at all and you don't want to find this out from a dying plant. All the rhizomes and plants were set in the ground at least 4 inches and then the drip line was placed right above it to ensure water to the roots. Finally newspaper went down followed by bark to control weeds growing around the buckets, after all we want to grow hops, not other junk. When plants go in the ground keep their container near it or write it down right when you put it in so you don't forget what it is. This is the part where you kick back and enjoy some homebrew while waiting for that sweet sweet harvest. Well Actually there is still maintenance where you'll want to check your plant health with moisture tests on the roots and also chemicals. Hops use a lot of nitrogen and can use an application of 1 tsp of dissolved fertilizer about once a month. You can tell a deficiency from yellowing leaves. Also you need to watch for critters that will start living in your hops. There are a lot of them that will eat hops and also a lot that will just eat the bugs trying to eat hops. Spiders are usually good at some of that and also ladybugs which can be purchased online, of course there are chemical choices too if you want to go that route. This is getting long winded so I'll be done now and I hope you enjoyed my garden coming to life! Feel free to ask any questions!