To forestall the obligatory "medieval is too vague" comment, let's say early 1200s England, with the caveat that I'm down to here about other times and places if you have info.
So, was your typical noble actively involved in the day to day administration of villages they ruled, decided things like what to plant, where to build new structures etc. or were they basically extortionists who would just once in a while ride through, say "pay you taxes or else", but otherwise didn't really care what went on? Or was it somewhere in between? Let's assume that this is a relatively small property.
England was actually a very well-run state by medieval standards around the time of the conquest. I'm assuming your definition of noble is a landholder, and in many ways they were directly related with the ground they ran: landholders like the bishop of Winchester was directly involved in assartations and the bishop of Ely was involved in draining the marshlands to reclaim the land
Also, there was a system of sheriffs which, less so around the time of John and Henry III, were effective royal agents who were interested in the effective rule of law and the enforcement of royal law in the provinces. Sheriffs (known as reeves during the anglo-saxon times) were directly involved in hundred courts and dispensed justice: this was not an arbitrary thing, though, and there were examples of people who were excused from taxes like the heriot due to them being able to prove that their land was not fruitful enough for them to be able to pay
In terms of actually planting land, it is quite hard to judge: there were a whole patchwork of rights between people and some were free holders who had more individual control and others were told to do it by their lord
I recommend James Campbell on the Anglo-Saxon state for more info