Can you make good money having a 5 acre garden?

NE GA Pappy said:

I think that if you had a good year, you could do ok with 'maters, but if it turns off dry, your 'maters will get sunburned and spotty and you won't make nothing. Better to have 3 or 4 hens laying rather than counting on one to lay 4 times a day.

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Rick Alexander said:

of about 1.5 acres total - there is a whole lot of easier ways to make money IMHO. I want to see if you guys that tout the wonders of all this money from 5 acres feel the same way after hoeing 3 100 yard long rows of peas, okra, corn or whatever your cash crop seems to be for a few days. I say 3 rows because that's just about the most my back can do in a stretch but keep in mind I've probably got 9 - 12 more rows to do before I'm done - oh and then we start all over again after a good hard rain. And let's not forget - it's hotter than heck out there in late July and August - which just so happens to coincide with trying to get a second crop of corn going because the dang deer, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, possums, crows, worms, beetles, tress passers, and I believe pretty strongly unicorns ate the first crop TO THE GROUND just about the time it started getting ripe. Oh - and yes - I own 4 tractors (my other hobby) - and still have to hoe - A LOT. I get plenty of volunteer helpers all the time to plant or pick but hoe hands are few and far between. You can use chemicals but isn't that why we grow our own in the first place? Part of my problem is my garden is bottom land which stays wet if we have normal rain so it's a little worse for me than most. In a drought I'm golden. Lets not even get iI don't nto mother nature having a pretty warped sense of humor at times.

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Rick Alexander said:

of about 1.5 acres total - there is a whole lot of easier ways to make money IMHO. I want to see if you guys that tout the wonders of all this money from 5 acres feel the same way after hoeing 3 100 yard long rows of peas, okra, corn or whatever your cash crop seems to be for a few days. I say 3 rows because that's just about the most my back can do in a stretch but keep in mind I've probably got 9 - 12 more rows to do before I'm done - oh and then we start all over again after a good hard rain. And let's not forget - it's hotter than heck out there in late July and August - which just so happens to coincide with trying to get a second crop of corn going because the dang deer, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, possums, crows, worms, beetles, tress passers, and I believe pretty strongly unicorns ate the first crop TO THE GROUND just about the time it started getting ripe. Oh - and yes - I own 4 tractors (my other hobby) - and still have to hoe - A LOT. I get plenty of volunteer helpers all the time to plant or pick but hoe hands are few and far between. You can use chemicals but isn't that why we grow our own in the first place? Part of my problem is my garden is bottom land which stays wet if we have normal rain so it's a little worse for me than most. In a drought I'm golden. Lets not even get into mother nature having a pretty warped sense of humor at times.

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ugajay said:

I believe most people have a big garden because they love it. Sure, it's no fun hoeing out row after row of corn or anything else. But I'm guilty as many others on here are. Every year in late August I'm talking about how next year I'll be cutting way back. Then in the deer stand I start thinking about how next year's garden is gonna be bigger and better. No doubt there's an easier way to make money, but I would be hard pressed to find away that's more satisfying

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j_seph said:

Ever thought of putting cardboard down between your rows to keep weeds down then at end of season plow it in?

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