Fertilizer produces green leaves, encourages new growth and helps fruit crops to develop.
Plants grow best with adequate fertilizer. With a sandy soil, you control plant growth. Pour on the fertilizer, and you can have the greenest lawn in town, but expect to do lots of mowing. Too much fertilizer also can make shrubs lanky and keep tomato plants from fruiting. The trend is to give the plants just the fertilizer needed for good growth and no more.