I believe the design of cropping and vegetables was made in the very first days of Glitch as a project, before "glitchy" became an adjective with a real meaning.
If not, why do we have a Farmville-like matrix of plots to clear, water, seed, fertilize and crop (no nibbling, petting, squeezing, talking)?
Why do we get, from those plots, boring vegetables without special verbs? (Spinach and broccoli being exceptions to confirm the rule.) We could tickle a potato to make it jump, enlarge a cucumber to get a mood boost, whatever.
Look at herbs. They were designed way after crops. The plots of land remained, but herbs make funny things, even funnier when combined.
Mining is not a diversified activity, but at least rocks talk!
TeaL DeeR: Glitch carries what appear to be very early items and mechanics. Crops and vegetables are a big example. They would benefit a lot from "glitchy" updates.