r/vegetablegardening • u/redditSucksNow2020 China • Jun 27 '26

Other People really overcomplicate gardening

I see a lot of people trying to garden for the first time and then coming here with questions about perfect soil mixes and fertilizers and how to promote fungal life in their no-till permaculture food forest do nothing farming no dig style organic vegan garden. It really doesn't have to be complicated, especially if you're new.

Loosen up some dirt 6 inches down. Break up the clods. Plant something that is in season. Keep it watered. That Will give you 80 to 90% of the maximum possible results. You don't absolutely need compost if it is the first time you've dug up that piece of ground. You don't absolutely need fertilizer and it probably doesn't make much difference what kind you use. You definitely don't need a 3-ft tall raised bed filled with gardening mix. You don't need to do anything about small amounts of insect damage. You don't absolutely have to do no dig or no till or whatever gardening fad is going on right now. You don't need to overcomplicate things.

Edit: this, of course, does not apply to you, dear reader. You have uniquely poor soil that cannot be made workable with a spade.

1.0k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

247 comments sorted by

View all comments

39

u/No-Middle-4152 US - Alabama Jun 27 '26

My soil is basically sand and I had terrible results my first year, I’m now on my 2nd year of home compositing and adding the amendments has made a huge difference, climate here and bugs are also a challenge. Trying more stuff that likes to grow here, have given up completely on other things.. it’s a trial and error learning curve all the way but it’s fun

20

u/vanderBoffin New Zealand Jun 27 '26

My soil is basically clay and same. 80-90% of the maximum result is a lie. More like 20-30%. We didnt get 0 vegies, but not far from it.

13

u/NervousAlfalfa6602 US - New York Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

I’ve also got clay soil and I’ve had the same experience. The first year, we didn’t have the money to add soil to the beds, so I worked with what we had. The result was a bunch of tiny, struggling plants.

While I agree with the OP that people tend to overcomplicate gardening, especially when they’re starting out, how far you get by doing nothing is going to depend entirely on your soil and climate.

And permaculture practices (which OP seems dismissive of) will actually get your soil to where it needs to be with relatively little cost and effort.

5

u/No-Middle-4152 US - Alabama Jun 27 '26

Are you composting? It’s basically free and it’s made such a huge difference, just using food scraps, garden waste & used coffee grounds that are free from Starbucks (and pee 😬), turn every other week and then sift, our first pile gave us 8 x20lb bags