Starting from scratch

Gardening is my passion. Growing plants in the ground is even a bigger passion of mine. Keeping the plants alive is not a problem at all. I think I was born in a rainforest (not an actual fact!!!!!) as the way I garden matches that of being in a rainforest. I have this inate ability to water plants a lot, put on too much leaf litter (anything I can find really within a 1km radius of where I live) and am more worried about keeping the soil cool than fertilizing using unnatural products. My fertilizer is whatever I can find, from fallen leaves, bark, to vegetable scraps, all just thrown on top of the soil to rot down by itself.

As I privately rent the place I'm in I am trying to do something with the recently relocated garden. I must admit it does get a lot more sunlight than the old one did but I'm kind of stuck at the moment for not so much ideas rather how to get things going.

You see I've discovered I am hopeless at getting cuttings to take root. I've tried every method known to man, sometimes it works, most times it doesn't. I can get seeds to germinate as long as the sun is shining. But that's where I mess things up in all my excitement. The seeds I get germinated inside, in winter, just end up by rotting the moment I move them into pots placed near a window. It's so bad that the end result is the bark chips end up developing roots in the bottom of the pots. What the heck?

So, I've decided to do one thing different - WORK WITH NATURE NOT AGAINST IT. If potted up seedlings just rot in the pot but anything like wood chips developes roots in the same pot in a matter of just 7 days, then shouldn't I be putting cuttings at the bottom of the pot (or somewhere deep in the pot) instead? I think so, if that's what working.

I need to rethink everything about my gardening skills. The only successful thing I can get to grow is moss, bark chips; and can easily maintain a cool, wet soil condition with minimal maintenance and very little water. In Summer our garden has it's own tropical, humid ecosystem; perfect for tropical plants I might add. But with no shade established for the garden plants yet and only a few plants growing that are not even into their first growth season it seems like an endless task waiting for Spring to come along so the plants will grow.

I live in a subtropical highlands area where establishing anything subtropical should not be a problem. I think I am the problem as I'm not doing it right and not working with nature and the climate. Its time I changed and start getting it right else there will be nothing much else growing in my garden except for what is already there.