Low Maintanace Crop... Suggestions?
 

I have a chance to farm about three acres a guy has. It is cleared, has water, and has been planted before. Its like 30 miles from me so I cant be there all the time.

I was thinking of something to plant that might work in a situation like that. Maybe cowpeas or corn, cantalope.

Any suggestions?

If you can spend the time to paper and mulch it properly to start with, peppers are almost care free. Especially hot peppers. Few fatal pests or blights. Few insect pests. Even very few animals like the real hot ones. They handle heat about as good as anything, and many peppers are usable either green or red/yellow etc..., and typically keep on the plants well. That's what I would grow. 3 acres is a lot of work to get started properly, but after that, just pick em.

Do jerusalem artichokes grow there? Here, they grow like weeds and can be harvested in the winter whenever it's convenient. They keep better in the ground. People at the community garden give away bagsful, but I didn't find a way to prepare them that I liked in previous years. This year I cooked them with onions, for a sort of thick potato-onion soup, and loved them. Still, it's an acquired taste.

Fairly carefree crops for me have been garlic, potatoes, winter squash, malabar squash, popcorn, herbs. Shell beans work for me if they mature before the fall rains come and if I can pick mature pods before they get moldy.

I've been reading about different varieties of great-tasting corn for flour, polenta, and parched corn in Carol Deppe's book The Resilient Gardener.

Added -- I just noticed it's the market gardening forum! So I guess it'd have to be crops that people in your area are familiar with. Perennial herbs are easy to grow, but for a market you'd have to pick them day-of or day-before. Maybe some flowers? I don't know what grows well there.

The deer are a huge problem in my area. They eat everything that isn't fenced in or guarded with dogs.

What's your irrigation plan? Is it city water? You can hook up city water to drip with a timer, but the risk of not being there is not seeing a leak or malfunction until you've run up a big bill.

[QUOTE=Cole_Robbie;305960]The deer are a huge problem in my area. They eat everything that isn't fenced in or guarded with dogs.

What's your irrigation plan? Is it city water? You can hook up city water to drip with a timer, [COLOR=Red]but the risk of not being there is not seeing a leak or malfunction until you've run up a big bill.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

There are ways around that I will get into when the time comes.

What do you plan on doing with the crops?

Worth

I would think Okra would not need much tending.

[QUOTE=John3;305972]I would think Okra would not need much tending.[/QUOTE]
When a large patch of okra starts producing it needs picked constantly, trust me.:)

Melons, corn, winter squash, peppers, root crops and dried beans would be my choice.
Maybe a nice blue or red corn you could make cornmeal and corn flour from.:yes:

Worth

What is the ground suitable for and what do you have a market for.

Yeah, the deer don't eat the okra, but it does require daily picking. And it is an itchy job.

i cant think of many cropa that font require regular weeding... maybe winter squash and pumpkins

How about kudzu.:yes:
Worth

Garlic and its planting time lol very low maintenance

If I was going to grow a crop for market that was low maintenance and pretty much pest free and liked poor ground and didn't care too much about regular watering........I think I'd look at Lavender. I see you live in Texas so I'm not sure if that would work for you or not.

Thanks for the help guys.

In reply to some of the questions, it is well water, and fence. Some fence is broken through in spots. Deer and hogs may or may not be a problem. Artichokes wont work here. There is a kid that goes by a few times a week I can pay part time to water and so on, he is in ag in school and that would be a fun deal for him. As for what sells, after tomatoes, squash, cukes, melons, corn, and southern peas do well. For whatever reason, peppers not so much.

Based on this past season, I'd plant snap beans. They were selling for $40 a bushel here and selling well at that price. (If you have labor to pick them.)

[QUOTE=Cole_Robbie;306033]Yeah, the deer don't eat the okra, but it does require daily picking. And it is an itchy job.[/QUOTE]

If you think that, then your deer are much better fed than these locally. They went through mine and left nothing but stems. Okra is hardy and when it would put on new growth, they'd be back for seconds.

I had deer all around my garden this year and never had any problem with them.

The people who live about 300 yards down the road have 2 large dogs that run loose. I made friends with the dogs and they kept the deer out of the garden for me.

I tried giving them dog biscuits. They wouldn't touch them. Starved for attention, just wanted someone to pet them and rub their ears. Claud

Right about now, I'd consider succession planting snow peas. Maybe a few rows every 2 weeks.

Easy to grow but you're going to need hordes of workers to pick them. ;)

[QUOTE=JohnWayne;307129]If you think that, then your deer are much better fed than these locally. They went through mine and left nothing but stems. Okra is hardy and when it would put on new growth, they'd be back for seconds.[/QUOTE]

That's funny. We've always had okra and our deer never eat it. They do eat everything else, though, even what is planted next to the okra. For some odd reason, they didn't eat my watermelons, either, although they ate every muskmelon from the same patch. Either they can't smell the watermelon and/or the soap & cayenne mix I sprayed actually worked. But everything else they seem to smell under the cayenne and eat it anyway.

[QUOTE=Cole_Robbie;307872]That's funny. We've always had okra and our deer never eat it. They do eat everything else, though, even what is planted next to the okra. For some odd reason, they didn't eat my watermelons, either, although they ate every muskmelon from the same patch. Either they can't smell the watermelon and/or the soap & cayenne mix I sprayed actually worked. But everything else they seem to smell under the cayenne and eat it anyway.[/QUOTE]

Ok lets get something straight our deer are southern deer yours are northern deer.
Southern deer like Okra.;)
I even see the deer around here eating gumbo and Tex Mex on occasion.:lol:

Worth

I think you are wrong Worth.

I think he knows the difference between northern deer and southern deer and actually has both kinds. Why else would he spray a soap & cayenne mix? if not to repel the southern deer with the soap and repel the northern deer with the cayenne?

[QUOTE=Redbaron;307883]I think you are wrong Worth.

I think he knows the difference between northern deer and southern deer and actually has both kinds. Why else would he spray a soap & cayenne mix? if not to repel the southern deer with the soap and repel the northern deer with the cayenne?[/QUOTE]

I find it odd that a southern deer would move north it is almost unheard of.
Yet it is a well known fact the northern deer sometimes winter in the south.
Maybe the northern deer pick up our southern ways and bring some but not all of the ideas back north in the summer.:lol:

Then again I did see a well known southern deer eating corned beef the other day. :?
Maybe it is something he picked up from a northern deer wife.:?!?:

We may just be on to something.:yes:

Worth

[QUOTE=Worth1;307894]
Then again I did see a well known southern deer eating corned beef the other day. :?
Maybe it is something he picked up from a northern deer wife.:?!?:

We may just be on to something.:yes:

Worth[/QUOTE]

No, he just retired to the south but is missing the food.

[QUOTE=JohnWayne;307129]If you think that, then your deer are much better fed than these locally. They went through mine and left nothing but stems. Okra is hardy and when it would put on new growth, they'd be back for seconds.[/QUOTE]

I just went back and read this reply and didn't like the way it seemed to read. I for sure didn't mean to imply you were wrong Cole or to sound like a smart butt.

I have no doubt what so ever that if you say they don't eat okra, they don't.

I just meant that if they didn't eat okra where you live, there is something else they are filling up on because they go through mine like a Hoover ! But if few people up your way grow Okra, it may be that they simply don't know what it is yet.

[QUOTE=Redbaron;307883]repel the southern deer with the soap and repel the northern deer with the cayenne[/QUOTE]

:)