Just buy a new SSD to install Linux on. If you decide to switch back just plug the old one in.
I quite enjoy Nix flakes for this. Only certain languages have good support though (C, Rust, Haskell, OCaml, ...).
You don't even need soil, you can just put them on the ground and cover them with hay, and they grow just fine.
Well, most people installing Arch for the first time have no idea what a typical Linux install does under the hood. That makes it a worthwhile learning experience. The same commands you use during the setup you can later use to fix or change things. It basically forces you to become a somewhat proficient Linux user.
On a phone with spyware installed that wouldn't do anything. There are probably ways to get rid of it, but how can you be sure?
You can probably replace it with ImageMagick.