I think the settlements are a great surprise addition to fallout, like getting a freebie. I've explored them a bit but there are some bugs that kind of ruin the fun.

First bug: You come back and notice there is 0 food and every single plant has to the "repaired" individually! I thought maybe it was being raided even though I have defenses setup. I did an experiment and cheated myself a bunch of money and materials and put turrets all around, a 300 defense on a settlement of 8 people and it still happens. I have people assigned to farming, although I'm not quite sure how that works if you have to assign someone to every single plant. But obviously having to repair 30 plants frequently, at each settlement, is a total drag.

Second bug: For the life of me I can't get the Sanctuary to grow. There is a beacon (actually I set up two in different parts of camp in case that mattered). All the numbers (food, power, water, ...) are all far great than 7.

I can't wait until the mods come out for this and Bethesda fixes some of the issues. I think this takes the game to a whole new level

1. Sounds like you don't have anyone working the garden and those plants will die over time if no one works them. If you highlight the plant and the pip boy is green then it is being worked, if it is red then someone needs to be assigned. I am not all that sure here but I think you only need to assign one person to the garden no matter how many plants you have but again I am not sure. Also 30 plants would be 15 people's worth yet you only have 8 maybe that is part of the problem? Next time only repair 16 plants and see what happens.

2. I had this "problem" until I realized I had turned off the recruitment beacon. If it is already on then I don't know.

Regarding your settler amount: May I ask what your Charisma is at? I know that the settler limit is 10 plus one more for every point of charisma- is it possible that you've reached your limit?

settlements are a nice touch to put some life and activity in the game world/wasteland but i find them boring and useless, i like to be outside wandering, exploring, shooting mutants, etc, not building shacks or farming

I like them as "down time" after some intense missions. A nice break