Plant it and forget it crops

11 years ago

It's been a LONG time since I've posted on this forum! Browsing recent posts, I realized how much I miss it!

So - we have 2 growing locations - one we are at daily, another that we are at when ever we have to be. We are planning on planting crops that need to be picked often (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, greens, zucchini, etc) at the location we are at most often. The other location, we are looking at planting mostly long season crops that don't need much attention - crops that can be harvested pretty much all at once, so we do not need to go there often to harvest. As for crops that we can pretty much harvest all at once, I've come up with the following:

Potatoes

Leeks

Sweet Potatoes

Garlic

Parsnips

Baby Pink Ginger

Winter Squash

onions

I feel like I am missing more obvious things. Any other ideas? We do have drip irrigation, timers, and will be able to check on things a couple times a week.

Thank you for any ideas you might have :)

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Comments (6)

naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan
11 years ago
Beets, Cabbage, Carrots....maybe two times thru the beets and carrots to let the smaller ones grow a bit more after the first harvest
rustico_2009
11 years ago
I was thinking those that nature girl mentioned. If you really need the space some varieties of tomatoes have good field holding, roma and grape come to mind. Even some watermelons could be picked on a weekly basis or more, no problem.
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2ajsmama
11 years ago
What's the soil like?
ekgrows
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks all. The soil is okay - not great. It drains really fast, so we really need drip in this location. We grew cover crops, dumped a bunch of manure, and will be tilling that in next week. More organic matter should help with water retention, but improving soil sure is a work in progress....
little_minnie
11 years ago
I think you should do winter squash, onions, leeks and sweet potatoes in black plastic for weeds and definitely forget about them (mulch the leeks on top of the plastic, that is what I do). The other crops straw the crap out of them and you might add kale to that too. Watermelons only need picking once a week IMO so that might be something you could do. Also cutflowers and herbs are options for once a week picking. I have thought about all this because I rent my land and if I lose it and have to drive farther to rent land I would have to change my crops to some you could leave alone and pick once a week before market.

I wouldn't do cabbage because they split when mature but Brussel sprouts and Romanesco can be left all season if you spray Bt once in a while.
optimistique
11 years ago
Herbs...any type...I even forget to water them and they are fine... So if there are any spices you want to plant (basil, parsley, cilantro, chives, oregano, etc...), plant them there.