Learnings from the Internet

I often try different things in my garden based on curiosity and sometimes impracticality. I will grow things that don't really do well here just to see if I can. When I started growing cotton, I knew the area would be good for it with some water, a warm place in the garden and the right kind of seeds. And it does well. I have planted wheat, oats, and other items that need lots of space just to see what they look like and how they are processed. Sometimes I find seed on the internet and some of the growing instructions as well.
Learning how to grow something from information on the internet is precarious. The information is scattered about different sites and it is hard to accumulate all of it in one sitting. Sometimes it takes several growing seasons to find out what is wrong.
Potatoes and sweet potatoes are a good example. You can find information about growing potatoes. They are cool weather roots, need fertilizer and lots of water. They will grow deeply if the ground is soft enough. You can sprout a potato from the store. But then you read about storing the potatoes and you have to age them a little to get the sugars to set. I have never needed that information. I just dig them up when it is time to use them. There are never so many that I have some to store.
Sweet potatoes are a warm weather crop. They like warm ground, fertilize one time in the spring, water deeply weekly, long time until harvest, vines run like crazy and run over other items so plant them in their own bed, roots grow deeply and slowly. And then, after you manage to get a harvest, it has to rest for a couple of weeks to get the sugar to form. Otherwise the sweet potato is starchy and dull. This information has been gleaned over a couple of years as I find things not working well from the original sparse information.
There are many other examples of incomplete information on the internet. Knitting patterns, sewing patterns, cooking recipes, weaving instructions, product assembly... the list goes on. I am sure many other readers have found problems in getting a full rounded education on a subject from the internet.
But I am grateful for the internet and its scrambled information. I have been able to try so many different items in my garden, select trees for fruits, make preserves and jams, cook lovely meals...all because the internet has lots of really good ideas and information.
But it is necessary to caution about the sources. I have spent many hours looking and many articles to gather enough information to make a good choice and to make that choice work well. It is not instant gratification. There is work to be done there.
I have learned about myself as well. I may be very optimistic about my abilities and the environment, but you can't make something grow where it just can't grow. Learning to recognize a potential failure in the garden has been a big challenge for me. I have dug up many trees that just could not do well here. I have failed to keep some plants well watered while I was on vacation. I have neglected plants that are heavy feeders. I have ignored insect damage too long. If there is a garden no-no I have probably done it more than once.
I have no machinery, like a tiller, so everything is done by hand and shovel. As I grow older, I am less able to keep up with the physical demands of the garden and see myself looking for ways to maximize energy and leverage. I will probably look into hydroponics at some point. And I am sure the Internet will have all the information I need, somewhere.