I'm thinking of starting a small farm. What do you think would be a good crop?

The place where we live has 3 1/2 acres, two of which are open, with no woods or undergrowth. I've already planted apple, pear, peach, cherry, plum and almond trees here and they're doing fine. I'm learning as I go along because I did lose two apple trees to, I think, rabbits, who tunneled under the ground and ate the small roots of these trees. I've learned to place barriers underground around the trees and a foot above the ground. I also have netting that I place over the trees to protect the fruit from birds.

I have strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries here as well as kiwi vines and asparagus plants. All are doing exceptionally well. But these I grow for personal consumption and give the extras to my family and friends.

The land I own in southern Virginia is rated as agricultural and used to be part of a large corn farm. The soil is fertile and ripe for growing and, because there is so much of it, I could make a nice living off of whatever I can sell.

I know the kind of work it takes from doing it here, so I'm prepared for that, besides, my son will be doing most of the work. I am always at my happiest when I am gardening; it's my favorite "hobby". I've always heard that if you turn a hobby that you love into a business, you'll never work another day in your life, because it won't feel like "work" to you. I know that farming is affected by the weather and there will be some years when I won't get good crops but I won't be relying on this as my only income so I'm prepared for that.

As for extending my business, I have become very good at rooting cuttings so I will not have to buy a lot of trees. I can buy a dozen or so, then take cutting from them, root them and have new trees for free.

Also, this is in an area where there is a lot of poverty. I would have a ready supply of help whenever I need it, to help harvest everything.

I've thought a lot about this and believe I have all angles covered. I just wish I could grow tropical fruits because they are my favorite, especially pineapples, bananas and mangoes. Maybe one day I could have a solarium built to grow some tropical fruits but I'll start with what will survive naturally in this area.

Thanks so much for your input and suggestions.

Hi pergammano! I haven't seen you in... well, too long! How are you?

I always plant garlic cloves around my other crops because rodents tend to avoid them so they help keep some critters away. I've produced some really nice garlic bulbs, too! I want to plant some of those HUGE garlic cloves.

You sound like my husband regarding horseradish. To him, the hotter, the better. He loves radishes, too, and the hottest ones grow in the hottest months, so I've just recently planted some seeds so he can have his hot radishes. I prefer mild... pretty much everything. I've always said I don't want to eat anything that bites back. LOL

Double/triple peony? I'd LOVE some! I have a lot of columbine seeds and "sparkler plant" seeds... can't remember, offhand, what their official name is but they look like fireworks exploding when they blossom. Would you like some of them? I should have some rare coneflower seeds very soon... the blossoms are dying back now so it won't be long before I can collect seeds. These coneflowers (I'll look up their official name) are purple on the inside of the pedals and green on the outside. They're really pretty! I could send you some of them, too, because each blossom produces at least 50 seeds and I have about 6 blossoms.

I love wandering around our land here because I'm always finding something new growing wild. I found some honeysuckle vines, black eyed susans, purple coneflowers, and one tiny pine tree, only about 5" tall. I want to transplant it to a sunnier location because it's at the edge of the woods right now and needs more light. I've also taken cuttings from a lot of beautiful bushes around here and rooted them. I'm just now having trouble deciding where to plant them. I'm getting more and more into it as more of the perimeter of the area where I'm gardening is being fenced off to keep most of the wildlife out. I've been planting cuttings I rooted from a silver lace vine that I planted the first year we lived here, at the fencing so, hopefully, they'll eventually hide the fencing. I'd rather have it look natural than man-made... or woman-made in some cases.

I planted some of those seeds you sent me early in the Spring but they were washed away, apparently. I planted more but have yet to see even one poking out of the ground. Well, a few things are questionable... they don't look like any weeds I've seen growing around here so they may just be from those seeds you sent.

My husband FINALLY put up the arbor I bought back in 2007. I had planted kiwi vines near the place I wanted the arbor so they could grow up and around it. Hopefully, next year, that will look nice. I'll try to get some photos of what I've done so far. It's slow going, with my physical problems because I can't do too much in any one day because I'll be out of commission for a day or two afterward, so I try to pace myself. The land around the house is actually starting to look really nice! It was so plain and devoid of color when we moved in but, to me, it was a blank canvas. I saw the potential and it's finally starting to show.

So, back to the beginning, I just may plant garlic around the property in southern Virginia, as well as near each tree I plant. It will not only keep the rodents at bay but I should get a pretty nice crop of garlic (and no worries about vampires getting too close, either!).

I'm pretty tired at the moment because I took my evening pills about an hour ago and a couple of them add about 20 pounds to each eyelid. I'll write you an email tomorrow morning. Promise! Take care of yourself. Love ya, too!

You're right about them taking awhile for the first crop but when I buy trees, I buy 3 year old trees. You can buy 1 or 2 year old trees but the one year olds look like twigs and the two year olds are just too small. The three year old trees should take only a couple of years to produce fruit. I have taken cuttings from a Ranier cherry tree I have and know I'll have to wait at least 5 years before they bear any fruit but, to me, they're worth the wait. So sweet!

This land is in an area of very low income. It boggles my mind why more people don't even have a small garden growing but, maybe the reason why they're poverty-stricken is because they're lazy. But, I'm sure I could hire people to help harvest whatever I end up growing.

Yep, peaches grow here. I have 2 peach trees here where we live that have already produced peaches. Well, one of them only produced 3 peaches because deer got to it the first year I planted it and destroyed about half the tree. I'm slowly barricading the area where my trees are so I've had no more deer damage since then.

They also grow in southern Virginia, which is zone 7a. I lived in zone 7a in Maryland and grew several peach trees successfully. The peaches I got this year were so sweet and so juicy! I know exactly what you mean about the ones in the stores. I was looking at them a few days ago and they looked awful! Most had bruises, some were actually rotting, and others were way too immature. I have an almond tree, too, which looks almost exactly like a peach tree and it has almonds growing. Last year, the squirrels got to them before I did so this year I've done all I can to ensure the squirrels don't get to them. They're almost ready to harvest now.

I was thinking of building roadside stand (well, have it built) and sell whatever I grow down in Southern Virginia. My son will be there to oversee everything and, if I sell them cheaper than the stores, I'm sure I'll be able to make a nice profit from selling them to neighbors, some of whom are on a fixed income or earn very little.

If I do grow strawberries down there, I'll have a "pick your own" type thing and just sell them per pound. I'll have to pick some myself because I LOVE strawberry jam and strawberry syrup for pancakes and waffles. I have all the canning equipment I need already so it's just a matter of how much I want to make. Strawberries sure do multiply like crazy!!! I have netting to put over them to keep the birds away.

Oh! Because of all the rain, I had to make a second planting of tomato plants. Yesterday, I picked my first ripe one. It was HUGE! I have always looked forward to biting into that first, vine-ripened tomato of the season and it was soooooooooooooo good! Of course, as tomatoes go, they're all starting to ripen at once... I picked two yesterday and two more should be ready by Monday at the latest. More should be ready by the end of next week. I plan to make some salsa because everyone in my family loves salsa. But, that first bite of that first ripe tomato, nothing beats it!

It sounds as if you've really thought this out! I think you'll do fine. Are you going to plant beans and peas and other staples?

My friend Dan has a great recipe for salsa and it's one of the few things I miss about the Southwest. His salsa was SO flavorful! Ever had salsa that burned your mouth? This is spicy but the flavor is very distinctive and I would make it milder if I were making it--which I will, next year! Dan and his wife are good friends and he sells vegetables to local markets, he loves to garden! Here is his sight where you can get the recipe: http://planetspaceage.blogspot.com/