Plant growth lasts for a year, and requires a 5th level bard, druid, Nature cleric, or (interestingly) Archfey warlock. Or a 9th level ranger or Ancients paladin, but those would be significantly more rare. Each casting essentially covers a one-mile diameter hex (or at least that's how they'd tessellate). 5th level casters don't exactly grow on trees, but neither are they the stuff of legend. You could theoretically cover two hexes in one day, but not for any extended period of time. You don't need to cast it daily on every field – the duration is a year. So assuming the caster is spending, say, 40 weeks per year and five days a week casting Plant Growth, that's 200 1-mile hexes, or 173 square miles. If you wanted to cover a larger area, you'd need one caster per approximately 14 mile hex.
The impossibility of Point of Light settings
Plant growth lasts for a year, and requires a 5th level bard, druid, Nature cleric, or (interestingly) Archfey warlock. Or a 9th level ranger or Ancients paladin, but those would be significantly more rare. Each casting essentially covers a one-mile diameter hex (or at least that's how they'd tessellate). 5th level casters don't exactly grow on trees, but neither are they the stuff of legend. You could theoretically cover two hexes in one day, but not for any extended period of time. You don't need to cast it daily on every field – the duration is a year. So assuming the caster is spending, say, 40 weeks per year and five days a week casting Plant Growth, that's 200 1-mile hexes, or 173 square miles. If you wanted to cover a larger area, you'd need one caster per approximately 14 mile hex.
Hussar
Legend
I just ran a 5e campaign set in the Chaos Scar - the 4e PoL module setting reboot of Keep on the Borderlands, the original PoL setting. 
The well in the Keep has a decanter of Endless Water at the bottom. Water problems are solved. The keep regularly gets supplied from outside the scope of the setting by whoever it is that is running the Keep. Food and supplies problem solved (with a nice side possibility for lots of adventures).
But, outside of that, we shouldn't forget fantasy flora and fauna. Giant Bees, for example, could feet an entire village quite easily and it's not like farming bees is outside the scope of technology. Fire Beetles, as another example, are two foot long beetles. That's some good eating right there - lot's of cultures eat insects (and they don't taste half bad) and it's quite sustaining and easily sustainable. Plus, you now have a well lit town with garbage disposal. Win win. There are all sorts of things that would support a community just within the Monster Manual that don't require massive expenditures of resources to sustain people.
I mean, even something as simple as the Move Earth cantrip - shift a 5' cube of earth every 6 seconds? O.O That's HUGE. Earthworks become a snap. One guy can excavate and level the entire foundation for a town in a day. And, let's not forget, magic items, while expensive, last forever. Which means a single Lyre of Building builds towns in a snap.
The well in the Keep has a decanter of Endless Water at the bottom. Water problems are solved. The keep regularly gets supplied from outside the scope of the setting by whoever it is that is running the Keep. Food and supplies problem solved (with a nice side possibility for lots of adventures).
But, outside of that, we shouldn't forget fantasy flora and fauna. Giant Bees, for example, could feet an entire village quite easily and it's not like farming bees is outside the scope of technology. Fire Beetles, as another example, are two foot long beetles. That's some good eating right there - lot's of cultures eat insects (and they don't taste half bad) and it's quite sustaining and easily sustainable. Plus, you now have a well lit town with garbage disposal. Win win. There are all sorts of things that would support a community just within the Monster Manual that don't require massive expenditures of resources to sustain people.
I mean, even something as simple as the Move Earth cantrip - shift a 5' cube of earth every 6 seconds? O.O That's HUGE. Earthworks become a snap. One guy can excavate and level the entire foundation for a town in a day. And, let's not forget, magic items, while expensive, last forever. Which means a single Lyre of Building builds towns in a snap.
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