What To Use Instead
This effect on the soil is one important reason we want to avoid chemicals in our gardens. We absolutely need a healthy soil food web in order to have a healthy garden. That means no pesticides and also no chemical fertilizers, especially the N-P-K brands.
When we start thinking of our garden as an ecosystem, we understand that we need to work with nature. Our job is really just to provide little tweaks to the system so nature can do what it does best, which is increase in diversity and abundance.
For fertilization, that means we add organic matter in the form of compost, mulch and plants, plus the occasional fertilizers and biostimulants to fill in the gaps.
For pest control, it means creating plants which are so healthy that plant predators won’t attack them in the first place (insects and diseases need nutritionally imbalanced plants).
And we create an ecosystem. That means things like compost and compost tea to improve the diversity of the soil food web. It means providing insects, butterflies, birds and other animals with water, food and shelter.