Garden information overload

I often joke if I'm not in my garden, I'm reading, or watching videos about it. While this isn't 100% true, it's pretty close.
This year especially I have struggled with information I have received. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'm not dumb. I know you have to take what you hear with a grain of salt. I take location, and type of garden practice, I weigh into account what credentials and experience the person has, and still I find myself doubting what I do. One of the things I love about gardening is there's always something to learn. Always a different, or better way. So you could say I'm always studying.
I will give some examples. I had a tomato die for no apparent reason. All the other tomatoes, and veggies were great, except that one. I watched a ton of YouTube. I decided I was watering to much, the wrong way.... I almost killed everything, when my method was working very well.  A couple of my bed kept becoming hydrophobic. To solve this problem I added some vermiculite. Then I watched this soil scientist who said you should never put vermiculite in your garden beds. I thought oh no what have I done?  I solved my problem is what I did. Shortly after adding the vermiculite the veggies and flowers that were struggling most of the summer started growing and producing like crazy. Another one was it's a total waist to money to add organic fertilizer and amendments to the soil, especially pots and raised beds because they don't have the microbes to break them down and make them accessible to the plant. Even so it will take years for them to be accessible for the veggies. Another was making compost tea is not a good idea because it's a crapshoot because you don't know if you're growing good or bad microbes.
I guess I'm posting this to ask what you do? How do you decide what's good info, or bad?
Thanks

I generally think if someone is trying to tell me that they are right, and they are the one true purveyor of truth, and if you don't do things their way, you are wrong!!! they're not reliable, and i ignore their advice.

Beyond that...

I quite like people who quote studies. I quite like people who conduct their own mini trials and prove that their method works better than a control. And i like even better,  people who talk about why their solution works for their situation, and gives examples as to when it might not wok.

I've now gardened in at least 8 different places - every single one, i've learned things, and every single one, my tried and true method for doing SOMETHING in my last garden absolutely fails in my new garden. Or is just not necessary. For example, in my last garden, i needed to grow the expensive hybrid onions to get any crop. In this garden, the heirloom and hybrid onions produced equally well. In my last garden, cabbages grew brilliantly- in this one, they're going to need soil improvements. Tools that worked in one garden, fail in another.

There are a lot of people on youtube or in blogs that know a lot less than I do about gardening...  and there are others that know more, or people who know less and yet have found one great trick for a challenging situation...

My questions before taking advice are:
- Is this person experienced? If yes, is it from years in one place, or years in many places?
- Are their growing conditions like mine - similar soil, similar climate?
- Are their priorities aligned with mine - for example, 'cides, fertilizer uses, are they looking to max production or max ease of harvest, or just have a few tasty things to eat, or support pollinators, or have a pretty garden or...

Regarding watering in particular- i have to water twice as often as I did in my last garden, just due to the soil content differnences between the two. Less clay, less organics = needs more water. I'd scoff at anyone telling me to change my watering.

Oh - and i always expect some loss, and some failures. It's all trial and error, and i don't take one or two things dying too personally.

Just do it.  Don't get bogged down when things fail, as they will.  Give yourself time to think about it.  Rely on your intuition first, before YouTube.  No one can teach you wisdom.  Wisdom can only arise within you.

Hi Jen,
I had to stop and think about this, because so much of it is done subconsciously.

I am like you and have read a lot and watched a lot of information. The first thing I do, when hearing about a new technique is to figure out the why behind the how. Is it solving a problem? If so, am I having that problem? Is it specific to an area? If so, am I in that area? Does the basic premise make sense? Once I have a decent idea of the why... and if I think it makes sense based on all my available information...

I test it usually. I try it out and see if it works for me.