Opening the Ground, Planting More Rhizomes

Cold wet weather plagued our plans for expanding our hops yard in April.  Finally, the first weekend of May, the ground was dry enough for the Deutz tractor to plow the land.

Meanwhile, the 2nd year hops are sending out lots of healthy looking shoots.

Our order for rhizomes never arrived.  When we called the company we ordered from, they apologized for losing our order.  Their stock had already been shipped.  They scrambled to get us rhizomes from other suppliers.  To compensate us for the late shipment, they doubled the amount of rhizomes they shipped to us at no extra charge. 

Well, I guess we are doubling our hop yard size.  Wow...didn't plan on that.  More poles, more hardware, more pots, more planting....

How exciting! 560 hops planted.  Oh my aching back....