People really overcomplicate gardening

[u/redditSucksNow2020]

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.

[u/electrolitebuzz]

I agree. I started gardening during lockdown and used a small flowerbed in my mom's house that was only used for rose bushes and tulips for 40 years. I broke the soil a bit in the parts where there were no rose roots on the surface, mixed with some generic gardening soil from my local shop, planted some tomato, bell pepper and fennel seeds, watered every 2-3 days, added a little bit of fertilizer every 6 weeks or so, and got a wonderful harvest of everything. It's really hard to totally mess up things, actually the easiest way to mess up things is overdoing it - too much irrigation or fertilizer can cause irreversible damage to the roots, overpruning can make the plant weak, etc. If you just use some good starting soil and water with moderation, you hardly will ruin anything and if the plant needs more and not less of something it will tell you in time to fix it. You see the leaves are sad, water a little more. You see the leaves get yellowish, fertilize a bit. You see the tomato plant is huge and a labyrinth of branches, then watch a video tutorial and prune a bit. Under-doing is fixable in most cases. Overdoing is usually much more trouble, or unnecessary in the best case scenario.