Plant-EM’s Origins – From The Farm to Your Garden

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William working on his family farm as a young man

Lessons Learned on the Land – How does your garden grow?

“I try and bring all my experience from horticulture and how I would like the garden to look, feel and be and put that into your garden.”

William Crabb

William Crabb - Director

As the founder and director of Plant-EM William Crabb is proud he and his team positively impact people’s lives through the work they do in their gardens under their moto ‘Changing Lives with Gardens.

But where does his passion for sustainable, water-efficient and healthy garden practices come from? And how did a farm boy come to own a landscaping business that worked on residential home lots?

It all comes from the farm of course…

In William’s words

I’ve spent most of my life in the horticultural industry.  I grew up on the family farm in Rollingstone just outside of Townsville where we grew small crops – pineapples, watermelons and cucumbers.

Most of my life I’ve spent in the horticulrutral industry, plants are what I know and what I love.

When I was 15 and I was allowed to leave school I started working either on the farm at home or for other growers and I did that until around 10 years ago.

William with his dog Boss on the family farm
William with his dog 'Boss'
Pineapple plantation on the Crabb farm at Rollingstone
Pineapple plantation on the Crabb farm at Rollingstone

Lessons Learned on the farm

Over those many years working on the land I noticed that how well the crops or plants grew and how well they produced depended on just a few things:

  • Soil nutrition – how healthy the soil was
  • Plant health – how healthy the plant was
  • Water – was it receiving the right amount of water?
  • Sunshine – was it getting the right amount of sunshine

All of those mixed together in the right proportion would make all the difference – the same goes for your home garden.

The scale may be different and the yield may be flowers or foliage, not fruit – but the concept is the same.

Plant-EM staff installing irrigation at a home in Townsville
William with Plant-EM apprentice Ruth, installing irrigation

How Plant-EM Grew

I wanted to share the knowledge I had gained over the decades to bring better garden health and more sustainable water-use practices to more people’s gardens and ultimately try to positively impact their lives – that’s how Plant-EM came to be.

I try to bring all my experience from horticulture and how I would like the garden to look, feel and be and put that into your garden. I have two apprentices now also, Ruth and Nick who I’m hoping to pass my knowledge on to.

A garden is like anything in life, we get out what we put in. We want the garden to be a relaxing place, we want the garden to look nice and we want the garden to be low-maintenance we can achieve all of those things with some knowledge, effort and care.

It’s then that a garden has the power to change the lives of those who use it for the better.

#changingliveswithgardens

William Crabb with Plant-EM client Marion in Townsville
William with happy client Marion who says the work Plant-EM has done changed the way their family uses and enjoys their garden.

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