I often cut corners and still have a lot of success (and a few failures, which I try to learn from). If I did what the gardening books recommend, I'd never even get started, I just don't have that much time or energy. I made raised beds in an established garden area and just shovelled the soil from between the beds into them. If any more was required, they would still be a pile of boards with weeds growing around them!
I don't mean to criticize the way others do things, they probably get better results, but sometimes "good enough" is all you can manage, often we even have to scale down what seems good enough.
This year my garden focus is on teaching my younger nieces (10 and 12), the basics of gardening. We are doing some fun stuff (indian corn from a cob they saved from last fall's decorations) as well as practical stuff (potatoes under a lot of mulch). They actually like to weed, and they are actively learning to recognize the weeds and the vegetables. I'm so proud of them.