This is the third time I have said this, the other two times were on the help chat.
People have tried helping me, but by the time I get to the patch, someone has planted something there. This makes it incredibly hard for new people to complete this supposedly easy quest.
I suggest that you allow people to start off with the ability to cut down trees. Otherwise they'[re going to always find that there is trees everywhere, but no patches. You could add a skill that makes it easier to chop down trees and then that evolves into creating better patches so you can replant etc. etc.
Something has to change otherwise players will forever end up with "Dig the Earth and Tend the Soil" on their logs.