If you want a garden in which every plant thrives, organic gardening is the way to achieve this. Ever since neolithic times, when humans stopped gathering nuts and berries and started cultivating plants, the basic attitude to pests that afflict our plants has been the same, to bash, batter and poison them into submission. It is a method that never works in the long run. The reason is, in essence, just this. Complexity is necessary for stability in any association of plants, birds, animal and pests. When you reach for chemical solutions to the problem of pests, you simplify the system in your garden. Simple systems are unstable.
Natural gardening is about accepting that with the plants you cultivate, you must expect to find a fairly complex insect life co-existing with it. It means that in some years, aphids for example, may be more of a nuisance than in others. In the long run however, natural predators of pests will control their spread. The aim of every gardener should be to control and not to eradicate pests within the garden, which is impossible anyway.
The first principle of natural gardening is having healthy plants growing in a healthy soil. Healthy plants are less likely to be attacked by pests. Achieve a healthy soil and you will be half way to solving the problem of garden pests. The first step then, is to improve your soil. Use plenty of organic manures and composts. These help to feed the soil and help build up a healthy population of soil organisms, which in turn feed your plants. Avoid artificial fertilisers. They do nothing to feed the soil or the organisms that live within it. If you do use fertilisers, make sure they are organic, for example, bonemeal or blood, fish and bone.
The second step is to avoid growing plants that do not grow well on your type of soil. The third step is to stop trying to grow, for example, a bog plant on a dry soil, it will always look sick. If you don't have the right conditions for a certain plant, give it to a friend who has. Likewise a sun lover will never be happy in shade. Grow resistant varieties of the plants you do decide to grow.
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