Soil and a sand/gravel cap will actually do everything you need a planted substrate to do, and cost almost nothing. That's pretty good value if you ask me.
I wholeheartedly agree with Tom on this, it works out about 30 - 40 times cheaper than Gucci substrates and is much more effective and will not become depleted of nutrients even after several years of vigorous plant growth. So in terms of best value for money it simply cannot be beaten.
Soil, but not if you plan to move plants around.
This is not strictly true, if you use a fine meshed gravel tidy or soil retainer between the soil and gravel you can scape and rescape to your hearts desire without disturbing the soil layer. The plant roots will naturally descend through the mesh and in to the soil below under the influence of gravity or geotropism.
i reckon ill have died of old age before i get all the info absorbed
There is a great deal of good info in this forum from many very experienced aquarists, the link below takes you to a tutorial that might help to put it all in to perspective, therefore, although it is by no means definitive, it is a good place to start.
It is really a beginners guide to the use of soil substrate, once the basic principles have been grasped it really is child's play and much easier to maintain and get good results than many other methods of achieving a beautiful planted tank (and enormously cheaper, ecologically sound, and carbon efficient); so there is no reason why even a virgin couldn't do well.
There's some good reading here on soil substrates if that's the way you want to go.
http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=18943
Stu.
Good luck, whatever substrate you decide to use.