Beer and Tea Garden

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.

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Nice thread! One of my garden themes that I’m working on is native plants used as substitutes for Chinese tea used during the Revolution. So far I’ve got New Jersey tea (which I highly recommend) plants, and seeds for bee balm and sweet goldenrod. I want to add yaupon once I decided how I want to overwinter it in New Hampshire. I’ll probably skip Labrador tea, as there are some safety concerns. I’m sure there are more that I’m not aware of, but I think this is a good start. Any recommendations?

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Should not be forgotten how tasty clover tea is. Boil the flowers not step them But I suppose I might try steaming them next time then drying them so I might only need to step them .

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Spearmint, peppermint and lemon balm
Chamomile (both but german is whats wild here)
Anise hyssop and hyssop
Catnip (slightly inebriating)
Lemon verbena
Raspberry leaf (for the ladies)
Mullein leaf
Make sure to get a fragrant leaf kind of bee balm

Lots of other stuff but these all taste amazing and have medicinal benefits

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I do have a lot of those, but am treating the non-natives separately. That’s a good point about the raspberries. I do like including the leaves in tea, but they’ll probably be in a separate area of the garden. Do you know if there’s documented used of anise hyssop during the Revolution?
I also forgot to mention sweetfern and spicebush. I may also add sassafras if I feel I can spare the space.

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Maybe not since they were east coasters and anise hyssop was a west coast native american thing. I mainly heard about bee balm / nj tea mix being there earl grey replacement.

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I grew so Bee balm and need to grow it again. It has a pleasant turpentine flavor. I have Hyssop also but I never heard of anise Hyssop I will have to check it out.

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Anise hyssop is agastache and is a crazy good nectar producer. Also smells amazing and makes a great tea nice and drought tolerant and pretty spike blossoms.

Raspberry leaf helps ladies with cramps and hormone regulation (including menopause, pregnancy and pms)

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Hops root is often sold in four inch segments. NO worries.

my Tea and Salal really grew well this fall and mild winter. I think there was more growth then during the summer infact.
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Nice! If you don’t mind sharing, how did you start the Rosa rugosa? And can you make any suggestion for germinating their seeds? Been considering but it seems some people say they’re difficult to start from seed

I did not start seeds. I bought starter plants from Raintree. Some Reds, whites and pink scabrosa, Frau Dagmar. All where reported to have flavorful hips. I will be happy to send you seeds this fall if want to try to start them.

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:+1::grin: Have you tried Roselle? It may be zone pushing but it’s very ornamental and has many uses.