Bel and David Quinn live in Karratha, Western Australia. Karratha is situated high on the WA coast and has a semi-arid climate – not quite reaching the classification of desert. Temperatures are warm to hot year-round, with winter minimums being in the high 20’s and summer maximums reaching the high 40’s. Rainfall is also low, which means a tough climate for growing, but not tough enough to beat Bel and David.
They moved to Karratha from Sydney for work 6 years ago, and being avid gardeners – Bel describes David as the real green thumb – they wanted to establish a sanctuary for their family. “When we moved to Karratha we had 3 children under 5 and expecting our fourth, who is now 5 years old” said Bel. “In our Sydney garden we had palms, aggies, roses, jasmine and lots of citrus, and we knew we’d have to learn about an entirely different climate and plant varieties, but that’s one of the joys of gardening”.
Bel also says, “our soils were not wonderful, and we knew we had work to do in that respect. The soil needed building up and we wanted to get some microbial activity happening as well. I’d been watching Better Homes & Gardens and enjoyed a couple of stories which featured Neutrog products, which prompted me to follow Neutrog on Facebook. Seeing their regular and varied posts encouraged me to try a few products, and then my dear friend, Bridget Sioneloto recommended Whoflungdung to me. I was very excited to see that our local soil yard Handy Hands Garden & Pool Centre, Karratha, carried the Neutrog range”.
Bel & David decided to start with Whoflungdung and GOGO Juice. Whoflungdung was used as a mulch for potted plants as well as those in the ground, and GOGO Juice was applied weekly. “We found that the results were miles above what we’d expected” enthused Bel. “The growth, depth of green and overall lushness is amazing. I then read about Seamungus liquid and decided to incorporate that into our gardening programme. Now we use GOGO Juice one week, and liquid Seamungus on the alternate week. Absolutely everything is fertilised following this programme. We’ve also become very keen on Gyganic for Veggies, Fruit & Citrus, and our tropical fruits, including star gooseberry, banana, pomegranates and tropical guavas are thriving.
“We love variety in the garden” said Bell. “After all, it is the spice of life. To that end we’ve planted lots of foliage which provides such great contrasts and colour as well; along with the wonderful flowering plants which will grow and thrive in this climate. At one stage, our rascally pup Judah Ben Hur Quinn was favouring Whoflungdung as a meal supplement, but thank goodness he quickly grew out of that habit.”
