People with a passion – regardless of what that is – inspire others. It would be difficult to think of anyone more passionate about a Neutrog product than Allan Lane who lives in Perth W.A. and loves Seamungus. But hey, we are open to finding that person!
Allan grows turmeric, bamboo, ginger and rosemary in pots, as well as in the ground. His passion is turmeric, followed closely by bamboo. We asked Allan what led him to taking such an interest in this member of the ginger family. “I am a cancer survivor of 10 years and I take a lot of health supplements, including turmeric in a powder form. I was at the supermarket a few years ago and they had some turmeric rhizomes. I had no idea if it would even grow in Perth, but I decided to buy some and give it a go. Our hungry Perth soil is mostly sand and goes down for many metres, plus it is lacking fertility, so I planted it in a pot, added a bit of Seamungus, which a friend of mine had recommended to me, and I was delighted when it grew. Not knowing anything about how turmeric grows I was resigned to the fact that it died in the autumn. How delighted was I when it re-shot in the spring! The second year I grew it, I had six pots and I increased the amount of Seamungus to the plants, as well as the frequency. This is my fourth year of growing turmeric and I now have over 100 plants, both in pots and in the ground.”
With four years of experience, Allan now applies a good couple of handfuls to his 51cm pots on a weekly basis. If for some reason he doesn’t get to this job, he will apply 3-4 handfuls fortnightly. He continues this regime through until around April – or whenever the plants start to slow and die down. The turmeric is growing in his own potting mix and Allan is happy to report that he has earthworms in his mix. The plants which he’s got in the ground are fed the same, except that around 1kg is applied to the 30cm wide trench he has in front of the plants and that is spread out every 25cm.
We were fascinated to find out what Allan believes the key to growing turmeric is. “I have a border around our boundary of clumping bamboo. The bamboo is an effective windbreak and it also creates a natural greenhouse effect in the garden. I also trim the bamboo as required to allow sunlight to penetrate. This then creates the perfect environment for the turmeric. The birds and insects love it too. My love affair with Seamungus is a huge part of how I have been so successful. The benefits of Seamungus are evident. The leaves glow a soul-boosting green to dream of, the plants develop healthy rhizomes and I believe that that is due to the manure and seaweed in the product, but also the beneficial bacteria in it,are doing their job as well. In fact, I am very keen to understand more about microbes. I’ve been aware of their importance since I was a young lad helping my mother garden and I am really looking forward to trialling GOGO Juice”.
What are your plans to use all that wonderful turmeric, we asked Allan? He gave a laugh and said, “I’ve done nothing yet. This spring I did indulge and tried a finger sized piece, grated fresh. Next year I plan on using fresh turmeric regularly and will be sharing it with my lovely family.
Pictured in the back is Turmeric and Ginger in the foreground
