Beer and Tea Garden

very interesting. I have never made beer, and never heard of griut, now I know what is the griut. Yarrow has many different flower color, which color flower yarrow do you use? I googled Internet, there are so many herbs/plants can be used to make griut, very interesting and educational.

Gruit, spelled like fruit and, since it is an ancient word I pronounce it in Old English style groo-it.

I have a fancy flowered yarrow and one bought from Horizon Herbs collected from the Oregon dunes. I have also used the local wild version, which is small and with pure white bloom. I cannot tell the difference in flavor or odor among them. I suspect Yarrow is - at least among those I’ve had direct experience with - the same species, with differing expressions of size and coloring.

A word of caution: too much is too much! I tried the second batch with twice the amount of yarrow (14 leaves) and it made my heart pound half the night and kept me awake. Seven per 5 gallon batch works nicely.

From reading since then, coumarin levels in these herbs are viewed with caution by medical authorities and you should be fine with the levels I use. Don’t overdo.
By the same token, no one talks - certainly no medical authorities I know of - about the estrogen levels in hops, which wise women used to treat woman troubles. That has only reinforced my taste preference for ales/beer made with lower levels of hops.
I make my own because I enjoy the process, the result and the consistency. Too many beers I enjoyed 20 years ago are made now with much more hops. Some of them have been tampered with to the point they no longer represent the style, although people may object I am old fashioned.
Yep.
BTW the word hops is both singular and plural.

I am Gruit.

Warm,
I give you credit for planting mints in ground. I planted chocolate mint inground several years ago. By the third year, I realized my mistake. They grew very agrressively. Took me 5 years to get rid of them all. They smelled nice when I stepped on them.

I probably will regret it… It does smell nice. I plan on harvesting a bunch of it at some point.

Roses are producing nicely.

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Rugosa? I see Raintree offers them for very reasonable price and want to try them once I’ve prepared a space for 'em.

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Yes, These are the Raintree Alba and Rubra. I will post a picture of my Frau Dagmar rose tomorrow its starting to rebloom. my Scabrosa Rose has not bloomed yet. Alba and Rubra are 3x more vigorous. The rose smell is outstanding. next year I plan to capture the flower petal and store them in sugar.

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a few nicely formed rosehips

Hear is a Tea plant in bloom. Sorry I only thought to take a picture pas this flowers prime

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I plant mine in ground in their pots . It hinders the growth of their aggressive roots. :blush:

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one of these guys did have a massive root ball. Do you think the roots would hurt the foundation of the garage? otherwise they are exactly where I want them.

I do not know! Sorry. :cry:

my quick research on the subject indicates the roots can spread 20’ but are shallow and easily damaged. I can see how pots will help if you want to have other plants near by.

I asked again what rose, and found the answer by scrolling up. Glad to see you’re getting something so lovely.
Sure hope to start some roses here in '18.

Today I hope to bottle a batch of ale made without hops, but with yarrow and rose hips. Got the rose hips from Midwest Brewing; grew the yarrow leaves here. Used nearly 50 inches of yarrow leaf and one, to one and a half, ounces of dried rose hips. They should provide an interesting citrus note to the ale.

Yarrow - and mugwort, sweet woodruff and some others - have coumarin. It gives you a boost if used in reasonable quantity. No aftereffects. However, I once tried twice as much yarrow, alone in a brew. Made the heart hammer half the night! Had to drink it midday in order to sleep the following night. Ale kept very well with yarrow on duty to keep it pure.

I do not have any Yarrow yet. But I did plant Sweet Woodruff, it should be hardy for me but my first did not survive its first winter. My new plant is in a different location and I think I will have better results next year.

My tea has not thrived but it did survive. hopefully that means strong root growth

Rose hips, this year I learned I need to prune back the vines substantially over winter. They regrow hardily and sprawl. My rose hips stoped flowering during the summer heat wave. I did not know that it would also kill the fruit that had already set and developed. I had intended to leave them to belt at the first frost but they ended up rotting on the vine. I guese I should plan for summer and winter harvesting.

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Do you spray for JB’s? I hate them, am almost considering getting rid of my roses because they draw them in. They eat the petals then move on to the leaves! Awful.

My way to shady Tea and Salal plot have pulled though another unprotected Zone 7 winter.

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I just realized how sad and pathetic my last update looked. The one in the center I really thought I lost this winter but it grew back. The leaves are tinged blue but I have not been able to find any associated nutrient deficiency. As you can see I mulched everything this year. Hopefully it will pay off next year.

Cutting down the Rosa Rugosa to 2ft paid off with lots of healthy growth. But the heatwave just burnt everything. The first few rounds of flowers just cooked and burnt. The bush just started to brown and grow dormant recently but started flowering again since the cool down.


I lost, like misplaced one of my 3 hops plants but one is finaly in bloom.

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Finaly decided the best place for my hops was the same spot I left them in growing bag for the last 2 years. I already knew is broke though the bottom of the bag bag but I didn’t expect the root I found. It kept growing and going under the deck for several feet.
I sadly did major damage to the root but im sure it will recover.

image

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