Today's tutorial is making seed bombs. What are seed bombs? Well they are little balls of clay and dirt filled with various seeds. You simply take a seed bomb and you toss it where you please. See an empty lot or abandoned property that could use some plant goodness? See an empty corner in your garden? Perfect! The movement is called Guerrilla Gardening. You can read more about it here: Guerrilla Gardening. The directions are simple: Toss, Water, and Grow. Once the seed bombs are watered via rain or you, the clay will and dirt will break down a bit and the seeds will begin to germinate. Over time, pretty flowers are growing where there once was only dirt or weeds. Pretty Cool, huh?
I am hosting a booth at this Saturday's Neenah Farmers Market as a representative for the Sustainable Neenah Committee. The theme is composting. While seed bombs are not really about composting, I thought they would be a great freebie giveaway and they do contain my compost in them.
On to the tutorial! This will make approximately 30 seed bombs.
Ingredients Needed:
- 1/4 cup of various seeds. Seeds I used were nasturtium, sunflower, marigold, sage, thyme, etc... It would be wise to use seeds that are native to your area and will grow in the time frame you plan on tossing them (spring/fall)
- 1 1/2 cups of compost/dirt.
- 35 oz of air drying clay. I got mine at hobby lobby: air dry clay
Combine and mix together the seeds and compost.
Break up the clay into tiny pieces and add to the seed/dirt mixture. Adding a tablespoon of water here an there, mix everything together. I mixed with my hands, I can't imagine using a spoon or anything. You really need to work the clay so everything is combined well.
Once everything is mixed together roll mixture into balls. Mine were about 1/2" - 1" big.
I put my seed bombs into egg cartons just to separate them for easy drying. I then put the seed bombs outside and let them dry for 24-48 hours.
Once dry your seed bombs are complete!
For easy grabbing at the farmers market, I decided to wrap the bombs up in fabric. This step is of course optional.
Toss-Water-Grow
Very cute! Maybe we will see you there!
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