A major lesson is that the weeds are always at the ready, and in abundance. They respond well to disturbance and cultivation is disturbance par excellence. Weeding may in fact create conditions favorable to weeds. My dabbling in my garden, and its indifferent results, put me in touch with some ecological truths, grossly stated, caricatured by domestication. Our objective is to simplify, not diversify.
Straight lines make gardening easier.
A very few ancestral plants gave rise to the great variety of vegetables we enjoy. I'm awed by the amount of coaxing and cajoling it takes to grow any food, let alone enough to live on, let alone enough for all of us to live on. And food offers an instant payoff.