Growing Alyssum

Latest Update 5th March 2020.
 
Alyssum

• I grow alyssum as a bee attractant and for its mass of flowers which grow for most of the warmer months.
• Its a very low growing plant, and I usually grow them in front of bonfire salvias where they enhance their bright red flowers.
• I grow them in or near my vegetable beds to brighten them up and attract pollinators.

Details

• Binomial Name:                                                         Lobularia maritima.
• Family:                                                                     Brassicaceae.
• Garden bed type:                                                       Drip line irrigated.
• Plant Spacings (centres):                                           150mm.
• Climate:                                                                    Warm Temperate.
• Geography:                                                               Southern Hemisphere.

Growing Conditions:

• They need full sun.
• Minimise soil disturbances to maintain a natural soil structure.
• They are propagated initially from seed in a propagator and planted out when ready into prepared beds. They will self seed endlessly in the same spot or wherever it's seeds manage to get to.

Feed the Soil.

• A light covering of homemade compost before planting, followed by straw mulch once the seedlings are established is all they need.
• If you rely on self seeded plants in subsequent years lightly cover the area with homemade compost before they germinate and cover any exposed soil with straw mulch once they are established.

Growing Instructions

• They can be propagated by sowing seed in a propagator in early spring and planting out in prepared beds when ready. They will self seed once established.
• Don't remove or dead head the flowers unless you are harvesting them, they will set seed and replace themselves every year.
• Spray the foliage with aerated compost tea as scheduled in the propagation plan.

Organic Pest Control.

• Caterpillars.
• I use aerated compost tea as a foliar spray on all my ornamental plants. It strengthens foliage and provides a biological barrier to plant pathogens.
• As a last resort use bacillus thuringiensis (Dipel in Australia) as a foliar spray it becomes a potent (organically certified) killer of caterpillars. When ingested by leaf eating caterpillars it kills them by releasing toxins into their gut. They stop feeding and die within a few days.
• General:
• Regular foliar sprays of aerated compost tea boosts the natural defenses of plants by colonising the leaf surfaces with beneficial microbes. These microbes defend the plant against airborne pests and diseases.
• Similarly, proper soil preparation including annual applications of home made compost boosts the community of beneficial microbes, which defend the plant's roots against pathogens.