Just planted some barley

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Well, I just planted about 400 square feet with UC Tahoe Malting barley from Hearne Seed. I've grown barley before, but this is about 4 times as much as the last time I tried it.

This is also a little earlier than I was able to plant before. Although, I still wish I had been able to plant 2 or 3 weeks earlier. Oh well.

Feel free to add your own barley growing stories and pictures.

 

[Senormac]

Looking forward to seeing some progression photos of your field

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Its sort of a dream of mine to make a truly from scratch beer. There’s just so much that goes into it though. It seems like you could take years to get good at malting and I haven’t ever even grown anything for myself. When I was a kid my folks had a garden and I love picking and eating wild food when it’s available. But a true scratch beer would be an uphill battle for me. I have thought about using the mesquite pods from the tree in my back yard and local corn to make a Cave Creek version of Chicha.

 

[Marty50]

The Tom had it made with the first planting. Additional planting were met with birds, mice and voles. My first test. Next season raised beds with netting

 

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The 4 rows on the right side are the barley. The 2 rows on the left are wheat. Growing pretty well so far, with the rain we've had recently. There are sprinklers set up with a timer when I need them.

 

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The 4 rows on the right side are the barley. The 2 rows on the left are wheat. Growing pretty well so far, with the rain we've had recently. There are sprinklers set up with a timer when I need them.

There was supposed to be a picture with that. Let's see if it works this time. Ah, it was too big of a file. Here we go.

 

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You can see that each row has to distinct rows within it. That was caused by my planting technique. I haven't had good luck in the past with just spreading seed and raking it in, so I went a different route.

Using a hoe, I basically pull a layer of soil from one half of the row to the other side. Spread seed where I pulled it from. Then pull the soil back to cover that seed. Along with replacing the soil, I pull over a layer of soil from the second side. Then spread seed on that side and pull an even layer of soil back over that.

This ends up with maybe a little deeper sowing than is typically recommended, but as you can see in the picture it hasn't hindered sprouting. Also, sowing a little deeper helps thwart birds or other pests that can easily find the seed if it is just lightly raked into the soil.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Its sort of a dream of mine to make a truly from scratch beer. There’s just so much that goes into it though. It seems like you could take years to get good at malting and I haven’t ever even grown anything for myself. When I was a kid my folks had a garden and I love picking and eating wild food when it’s available. But a true scratch beer would be an uphill battle for me. I have thought about using the mesquite pods from the tree in my back yard and local corn to make a Cave Creek version of Chicha.

You'll like this blog then : https://growingbeer.co.uk/

He aimed to make a beer completely from scratch, including harvesting yeast from his plot - he ended up getting quite a bit of publicity and so got help from eg a local university for yeast wrangling and Crisp offered to malt his barley etc.

 

[Senormac]

There was supposed to be a picture with that. Let's see if it works this time. Ah, it was too big of a file. Here we go.View attachment 569045

I like seeing that fence around your growing area too. Nice space