Joe5858
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How Often Must I Tend to Vegetable Garden?

Hello, new to the forum.

My family really wants to get into organic farming. Unfortunately we live outside of a major US city and space is difficult. I have found a person with 1 acre of land that is willing to lease me space. Unfortunately the space is 1 hour away.

He said there is access to water, it is fenced, and was recently tested and found to be fertile soil.

My question-

For the most basic types of vegetable farming (easiest plants)...

After the land is tilled, fertilized, seed is sprouted, is it reasonable to think the plants will be fine if I only visit them every 1 to 2 weeks over the summer while they are growing?

If not, how often do I need to visit the plants and/or water them? I realize each plant is different, I am talking about the most general and easy to grow stuff.

Thank you for any guidance you can provide.

Mr green
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Depends on where you live and how much rain you will get there. One thing to make watering less needed or not needed at all is mulching. Another thing is to not plant crops to close to eachother you may grow less than you could in the space but with alot less work.

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applestar
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I usually don't discourage people from doing something, but if you have not grown a garden before, I don't think leasing land and trying to have a long distance farm/garden without being able to be RIGHT THERE is a good idea.

How much it rains, as mentioned, is a pretty serious consideration. Your overall local climate will SIGNIFICANTLY influence what could happen in a week from season to season.

There are many things that can happen in a week let alone two weeks. You really need to be able to anticipate. Watering is definitely one of the needs as they grow, predation by insect and animal/bird pests, development of diseases, providing support as they grow....

Some crops will need to be harvested daily or at least every other day once they start to produce -- OR THEY STOP PRODUCING -- and some crops will mature and need to be harvested within a certain window of time which doesn't happen on schedule.

All of this requires experience and learning by trial and error. Once you know what you can expect, it will be possible to choose crops that don't need as much of your attention to grow in a satellite garden.

Is there no room to grow where you live at all? Is there a community garden closer to where you live or work or along the route that you commute back and forth? Many of us garden in small postage stamp of a back yard. I've dug up a fair amount of my back yard but I live in a cookie cutter development of nearly identical houses. Container gardening is another way to get your feet wet and gain some experience.

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digitS'
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I do this, but not quite on a once a week basis. No, it is much more of a 5 days/week schedule. This much attention runs for several months.

It would take some thought to imagine how it might be done differently. I have always practiced a very hands-on approach to gardening. At least, I think I have.

Can you find a place closer - for what I call GOOPP, gardening on other people's property? When I pull onto the interstate, which is like never, I can reach my most distant garden in 20 minutes, from leaving my driveway. Finding land was always easy for me. It might be Western hospitality, but I don't really think so. It might be the nature of residential development. If there are areas with homes on 3, 4, 5 acre lots in your area --- I can assure you that there are homeowners who simply hate to spend every single summer Saturday sitting on their lawn tractor! They might have wanted that corral for the kid's pony ... 25 years ago. Things have progressively gotten outta hand outdoors but they love living where they do ...

One of my gardens is on rental property - one house, one detached garage on 4 city-sized lots. I have the equivalent of one lot for a garden. In no way did the renters want to care for all that ground. And, in the 20th season that I have just commenced being there, several sets of renters seemed happy with a green and growing garden, with plentiful flowers, much of the year and bare soil the remaining.

An acre? Advice from Cooperative Extension for family gardens is usually for 800 to 1000 square feet. An acre is 40 times that size. My gardens are large and have evolved in size and locations over the years but have never reached one-half acre size in total. I sell garden produce ...

Lease? I have boundaries - as clearly defined as we, the property owner and I, can find comfort with. I don't even mow their lawns! The resident may run my sprinklers. They may harvest, on a free, comfortable, and casual basis some of the produce. Never, do I leave a basket at their backdoor. They see on a weekly basis my effort in garden care. Water, I pay for.

I think you will most certainly require equipment for an acre - probably beyond a rototiller. Those things cost several hundred dollars. Most certainly, you can grow more than that on the ground ... but you may spend as much time selling that produce as growing it. Supermarkets may buy things on contract. Shoe-horning your products into their commercial contacts is gonna be nearly impossible. Restaurants? Now, you are really upping the ante for hands-on processing, delivery and quality ...

Any gardening enterprise may or may not be a difficult row to hoe. Planning, planning planning -- maybe this should be the year for that.

Steve

Susan W
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Basic questions as a starter. Where are you? Do you have any sort of front-back yard?

imafan26
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Try gardening in containers first. An acre is a lot to start with, and it will take a lot of time in the beginning just to do the prep work tilling, installing water, amending and planting.

The crops you choose matter on how often you visit.

If you live outside of a major city and you have even a small yard a 4 ft x 10 ft space in full sun is still a good productive garden.

A community garden is a good idea to look into. There will be a waiting list so you may have to wait. Even community gardens have rules on how often you need to visit. Weed and pest control take up a lot of a gardener's time.

Joe5858
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Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 9:25 pm

thanks for the help



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