I rent in an urban area and was given a backyard full of 6 foot tall weeds. Over the winter I managed to somewhat reduce their numbers and have been fighting them down since but also I didn't really have any money for gardening so I just went with direct inground with a bag of miracle grow for fertilizer and some cheap mulch for bedding.
Pretty much a scraps garden. I have green onions and regular onions, garlic cloves that sprouted, bell pepper and jalapenos, a potato plant, 2 basil and 3 Thai basil, a daikon scrap I'm letting flower I hopes of seeds I can plant next year, and all my beans and peas on the fence over there.
I also planted a blueberry bush that I realized I really should have kept in a pot cause I realized how long that thing is gonna grow for.
I also threw potatoes under the bush in the far back that is doing pretty good and a strawberry I won't ever be able to eat the fruit from because the critters get up earlier in the morning than me.
I see healthy green growing things.
I have learned my lesson from the first time I tried to save a basil plant from slugs by sprinkling baking soda around it and have taken a way more hands off approach.