I don't bother growing things that will get smashed by bugs (broccoli, etc) - just too frustrating. Spinach and lettuce grows easily enough that the bugs can't beat it down. Garlic is easy and rewarding, though cloves might be puny. Zucchini worth trying though they quickly cop disease on the leaves in my experience. Carrots easy, though also cheap as hell to buy. Herbs are a no-brainer as bugs ignore them and they're expensive/annoying to buy each time you need a small amount. Tomatoes are a warzone with grubs or heat gunning for them but hard to resist trying to master them!
Get a reliable watering timer. I've had them fail or kill batteries due to unreliable motors and by the time I've noticed, plants have been dead. That at least is a predictable and solvable problem.
For shade, I have brackets down the side of my garden beds into which I can slot broom-handle style posts. Onto that, I slide a half-hoop of inch-thick irrigation pipe. Then I can clip shadecloth or bug/bird netting onto that as needed.
I think it depends so much on where you are and how you work that you mostly have to learn it as you go. Some people have loads more time to weed and water and check on things. Others might not have time to even look at the garden for a few days. I used to marvel at my late grandfather's garden and had to remind myself that he had decades of experience honing what he grew and how he grew it, plus in retirement had all day to do it!
Have you found any mitigative actions you can take to continue growing (shadecloth was new for me)?