A soggy start to 2026 in the hop garden

With record-breaking rainfall and some areas experiencing rain on nearly every single day of 2026 so far, the year has got off to a soggy start. 

Here in Tongham, with plenty of rain draining off the slopes of the Surrey Hills, the hop garden has its fair share of water.

It makes it very tough for Estate Manager Matthew to take the tractor in the garden, because of the damage it would do in compacting the soil and leaving tyre ruts, or worse still, get stuck in the mud.

Luckily, the 16 Lleyn sheep and 8 Hebridean sheep, courtesy of local farmer Chris, are very light on their feet and don’t damage the ground, whilst they graze the garden.

The sheep are also very adept at nibbling down the early hop shoots, which would otherwise need to be taken off by hand, saving Matthew and the Hogs Back Hopper volunteers many hours of work.

With temperatures soon set to rise, there’s likely to be an explosion of hop shoots to tackle.

Elsewhere there is plenty to do. All 86 alleys of hop plants need to be individually checked for health, and any damaged plants removed and replaced.

Then there’s the small matter of realigning the skewers in the ground in exactly the right place under the wire work and within a few inches of the hop plant.  This ensures the correct tension is maintained throughout the garden, when stringing starts in March.

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