ill try to take your post apart so i dont miss anything......
Q: What is a common soil that will sustain my plants from seedling to flowering something I can get from Home Depot cheap.
A: miricle grow works good, but is been known to cause nute burn in young plants. start your plants in regular yard soil in small beer pong style cups and transplant into3-5 gal pots of MG after a few weeks or a month. if your yard soil sucks you can pull out all of the nute balls in the soil, but its tedious
Q: Can I get by without adding any fertilizers or chemicals, just watering?
A: you can for a while, but eventually your plant will show signs of nutrient defficency
Q: What type of water, does distilled, spring, mineral work better?
A: distilled is best, bottled can be used too, and tap water if you let it distill for 24 hours to let the chlorine evaporate
Q: How can I keep the smell down, would like to remain undetected by visitors, and want minimal amount of plants growing.
A: carbon filters, good stuff, look it up
Q: What will I need besides what I mentioned above in the original post?
A:not looking at that right now but some things you will need: fans filter PH test strips or kit, and most importantly SEEDS!
Q What is the best grow guide for a complete novices sucess the first time?
A: the grow faq is great, read it twice, and when you think youve read it all, read it again!
Q: Can the power company detect the periods of power on then off?
A: yes they can... but in this season so many people have ACs and other stuff running its so hard to tell what someones doing based on the electric meter
QI plan on not saying shit to anyone! Any other way to get detected besides aroma?
A: its always good to follow the #1 rule. and yes the police helocopters can take infra red pictures and detect heat from your place