Topsoil or potting soil better for new planting?

Greetings to the forum; the house is standing, we have moved in and are now starting with the outdoor area. :)

I have not found clear, actually no satisfactory answers elsewhere, and therefore ask the practitioners here in the forum: From your perspective, is topsoil or planting soil better for establishing a new garden? Should I also buy and introduce worms or wait until they settle on their own, if at all? For now, it is about the foundation; once I know which plant I am placing where, I will prepare the soil in the planting hole accordingly for each plant.

What are we talking about here? Lawn, hedge, flower bed?

Potting soil is actually only used for planting holes and even that is, in my opinion, mostly unnecessary. With a reasonably suitable location, somewhat natural (=not overly bred) plants can also cope well with what is available.
What is more interesting with beds is the possibility to use weed-free substrates, e.g. compost + gravel. But it must then actually be quality-assured accordingly.

There is a nice spot from Hornbach "Lass die Natur mal machen..."

You use potting soil for exotics that you put in a pot. It would also be insanely expensive to fill the whole garden with potting soil.
The rest nature does by itself...

Hello Pinkiponk,

depending on what you have there, I would recommend not filling with topsoil. It is very rich and often contains many weeds that you don't want.

If, for example, you still have subsoil from excavation or can get some cheaply, that would be really good. Most of our native wild plants require poor soil. Sand is also fine. And wild plants can withstand our weather better and are beneficial for the wildlife. :)

Here it is still very green and colorful, the neighbors run the sprinkler daily, and the lawn suffers. I would make as little lawn area as possible and have many perennial beds / new seedings with native regional seeds.

But I am also rather "exotic" (pun intended) with my natural garden.

WilderSüden naturally also has a good tip with sand / gravel and RAL compost (it is composted at such a high temperature that no seeds of "un"weeds remain in it.

If you are interested in a natural garden, feel free to get in touch :)

What are we talking about here? Lawn, hedge, flower bed?

First of all, I want to install a fence or trellis along the border to the neighbors in the front part (see photos) and then green it. The "planting strip" is only quite narrow because we also have to accommodate the edging stones for the paved driveway. I would like to "calm down" the side towards the neighbors a bit with climbing plants (ivy? Goldchild or Goldheart?), since it is designed quite differently.

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If you feel like having a natural garden, you can get in touch :)

I'm thinking of a "tidy" ;-) natural garden. In any case, I want dandelions and chickweed because I find them so awesome.

If you feel like a natural garden, you are welcome to get in touch :)

So far, I have gathered the following besides dandelion and chickweed: Alyssum ovirense, Carinthian rockcress Biscutella laevigata, smooth buckler mustard Delosperma congestum 'Golden Nugget', yellow ice plant Glaucium flavum, yellow horn poppy Potentilla erecta, tormentil Potentilla fragiformis ssp. megalantha, strawberry-leaved cinquefoil