Here's what the big fertilizer companies don't want you to know: synthetic fertilizers are designed to make you use MORE, not less. They bypass the soil entirely, forcing nutrients directly into plants, which sounds great until you realize this creates weak, dependent plants that can't survive without constant feeding. It's the gardening equivalent of an addiction cycle. And when you inevitably use too much? Chemical burn, soil degradation, dead beneficial microbes, and nutrient lockout, where y