Aphids used to be a big problem in my garden until I stopped fertilizing so heavily. Now I find that I usually only get aphids in the summer time when I can't keep up with irrigation leading to stressed overheated plants that are screaming for aphids to come attack them. Now for the first time I have the reverse problem, way too much water from all the rain we have been getting! This has stressed out my kale plants which are tucked into a pocket of my garden that barely gets any direct sun near the soil level leading to soggy soil. Historically I have battled with the aphids through using organic pesticides but I quickly found that it was just a game of cat and mouse leading to lots of pesticides use that could harm other insects. Instead I have switched to fully using water to blast away aphids and stunt their populations. This has the added benefit of allowing beneficial insects to step in at some point as well since we aren't using any pesticides!
