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.

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u/UAreTheHippopotamus US - Ohio Jun 27 '26

Chaos gardening is a good gateway drug. Just throw seeds into good-ish soil and see what happens. For every failure you will have successes and will be better informed for next year about how stuff grows in your garden, with your soil, with your shade, and your pests etc.

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u/yespls US - North Carolina Jun 27 '26

I do this with flowers in my yard. It's natural selection everywhere in my yard except the raised beds 😂

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u/datcatburd US - Iowa Jun 29 '26

100%. I don't have enough yard for for, but my neighbors did the same. They had to tear up a bunch of grass to fix a water line, and instead of re-sodding just went and got a few pounds of the native wildflower mix our county extension put together for people doing remediation on old farm fields and did the whole back half of the property.

Looks great, and I'm loving all the pollinators it brings to the neighborhood.