THANK YOU FOR PLAYING AND APPRECIATING THE VIBES!
The game could definitely use more polish! There's a very subtle tint to the Growth phase resources that's supposed to signal they're not complete and ready to gather yet when they're first placed down. I imagine you kept trying to gather right after placing a tree down and then repeated that which made you think no trees worked even though the previous trees most likely were gatherable. 
A tutorial would've done wonders for the UX. I really should have tried to squeeze in more obvious signs about resources being in construction. I've caught myself gathering to "incomplete resources" on multiple play throughs because the tint's too subtle to recognize and I forget which one I last started growing. 