30 Days Wild Day 7: How to make a seed bomb
Created by guerrilla gardeners for brightening up public areas, seed bombs are great fun for children and adults!
Whether it's a plant pot, flowerbed, wild patch in your lawn or an entire meadow, sowing wildflowers provides vital resources to support a wide range of insects that couldn't otherwise survive in urban or built-up areas.
Throwing, breaking up or digging ‘seed bombs’ (or balls) into areas in your garden that need a little brightening up is a perfect way of spending an afternoon!
You will need:
- Meadow flower seeds or seeds collected from the garden.
- Peat-free compost.
- Water.
- Powdered clay (found in craft shops).
- Mixing bowl.
Creating your seed bomb:
- In a bowl, mix together 1 cup of seeds with 5 cups of compost and 2-3 cups of clay powder (you could use clay soil instead if you have it).
- Slowly mix in water with your hands until everything sticks together.
- Roll the mixture into firm balls.
- Leave the balls to dry in a sunny spot.
- Now for the fun bit! Plant your seed bombs by throwing them at bare parts of the garden and wait to see what pops up!
Top plants to include in your seed bombs:
- Bulbous Buttercup - Ranunculus bulbosus
- Chamomile - Chamaemelum nobile
- Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil - Lotus corniculatus
- Common Knapweed - Centaurea nigra
- Common Spotted-orchid -Dactylorhiza fuchsii
- Lady's bedstraw - Galium verum
- Red Clover - Trifolium pratense
- Wild Thyme - Thymus polytrichus