Would it be possible to rent a farmer npc in game? They have a garden plot, It takes a lot more time to grow the plants you want than if you did it yourself. Plots/npc could be rented/bought for X amount of time. IF same crop type is regrown it would yield a lower return. Do this to increase crop rotation. Farms could come under attack like during bunny events but mobs could be more diverse. If enough little beatles are in your garden a praying mantis or another predator could be attracted/spawned. The predator could clear out the beatles (making it stronger) and when the mantis has eaten all the beatles the only thing left to eat is the farmer/you. So kill the beatles to protect the farm from a larger more powerful enemy. Leaving beatles alone not only spawns a mantis/other predatory bug but also lowers crop yield. Could even have invasive plants types that farmer needs to combat in order to "weed"

This is in no way a replacement to gardening. I am proposing an alternative to gardening that would produce more crops potentially. But use different mechanics and play style to accomplish this. I also would like to think that higher lvl farm owners/renters would hire lower lvl players to guard the farm. Either pay via shifts or do a commission based system/ Or both, flat rate pay with kill bonus reward.