You've probably seen plant lice, also known as aphids, feast on your plants. Able to be devastating agriculturally, aphids are a nuisance to both, farmers and gardeners because they can destroy leaves on fruit trees and plants, leaving holes in leaves and injuring stems and vines.

The reason I bring up these particular pests, aphids, is because studies have been conducted on why more and more farms and gardens have become safe havens, even breeding grounds for such insects. You know what they found?

Studies have linked the rise in pest problems with the use of nitrogen fertilizers. Small amounts of nitrogen exist naturally in the soil and this is vital to all living matter, it's what gives life to both plants and insects. Of course, this isn't a problem.

But what happens when you douse loads and loads of nitrogen-rich fertilizer onto your garden? These pests consume it, are made stronger, become more fertile, and eventually have the capability to take over your garden. Basically, this extra nitrogen in your synthetic fertilizer is like a super-growth hormone for insects. (Think if Barry Bonds was an insect....) They love it and you can see why!

And not only are you creating monster insects, but many of these little varmints (depending on the species) also have the ability to become resistant to pesticides. Yikes!

You know what all this means, right? More fertile pests, means less of a garden for you and your family to enjoy.

To be honest, I don't think most gardeners purposely try to accomplish this but if gardeners can be guilty of one thing, it's that they usually don't understand that just like anything in life, actions have consequences... even in our gardens. My point is, how we take care of our plants, what fertilizer we use and how much we apply, how and when we water, all of these things have implications.

A charge for gardeners is to understand that the way you care for your plants impacts not only the obvious fruit of your labor, but the plants overall health and structure, the soil's structure and nutrient density, the lives of insects (the good and bad kind), not only presently, but for the future years of gardening as well.

If you want to promote a healthy environment for your plants, you need to make sure you are doing everything you can to accomplish this. Helping pests grow strong and fertile accomplishes just the opposite.

If you're going to fertilize (I do so myself), one of the best ways to preserve your garden, the life and safety of your plants is to do it naturally. If you fertilize your plants (without the nitrogen blast) in a natural or organic way, you will be able to safely control pests before they have a chance to strip your garden clean.