Hello, I am an empty lot. I exist in your neighborhood. I'm just a big patch of dirt and some trash. I make my neighbors feel uneasy and sad. No one likes me and it makes me sad too. All over, it is a lose-lose situation.
But maybe you can help me? All I need are some seed bombs. They're cheap and easy to make. And if you do it right, they are completely self automated and great for the environment. They will be a sight for sore eyes and they will make everyone happy. Especially the butterflies.
Seed Bombs Ingredients
1) powdered clay
2) worm castings
3) wildflower seeds indigenous to the area
4) water
5) mixing container
6) stick
How to Make a Seed Bomb
1) mix 5pt powder clay, 5pt worm castings, 1pt seeds in a mixing container.
2) add just enough water to make a nice muddy clay consistency
3) roll up the mixture into little balls like gum balls
4) let dry in a cool dry place for like 3 days
5) throw them in empty fields.
The middle bomb is a great size.
How they Work
A seed bomb is a little capsule with everything you need to grow a plant all bundled up. The clay has lots of root-encouraging nutrients. The Worm Castings will give the seeds a nice fertilizer, good for land that hasn't been cultivated or worked on for a while. The indigenous seeds are custom made for your area. They will know how to grow given the conditions.
Now all they need is a nice rain. The perfect time to throw these is right before a light rainy season. The rain will melt the clay to expose the seeds, and your seed bombs will grow.
We had a seed bomb workshop in November. We used California Poppy seeds. Unfortunately there was no rain this year, so we have a whole bunch saved for this fall.
Now it's your turn. Make seed bombs. Invite your friends. Make your city greener.
EDIT**********
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20 comments:
Cool idea. I've always wanted to plant tomatoes along the Garden State Parkway here in New Jersey. Miles and miles of grass seems like such a waste of space. With these seed bombs I could just toss them out the window while I'm driving. :)
Great idea!
Does anyone know where to get the clay powder??
Oh yes, any local pottery & Clay supply store should have some. Another try would be an art or craft store.
And if you want free clay, which you probably will only need about 2-4 cups of, try going to the local college art department. universities or community colleges should have a large stock.
Good luck!
xoxo
Bentonite is a very common clay you can find at any grocery store. Kitty litter.
just get the plain kind with no additives. Presto, Ultra cheap source of semi powdered clay.
Excellent idea, thank you.
(I arrived here via La Ingeniosa Chainsaw Panda.)
I always heard there was no planting of edible vegetation on highway medians because emissions from cars would render fruits and vegetable inedible. Anyone know anything about this?
I live in Victoria, BC, Canada and really really would like to start this up here. It's already the 'garden city' but there are many places downtown that are disgusting and need some work in order to live up to that name. The west coast of BC is also the perfect place for rain! haha does anybody know of a Victoria based group?
If you are looking for a group, I suggest going to GuerrillaGardening.org. This is a great website to try to organize something wonderful.
Does anyone know how efficient the cat litter idea is? I am thinking of trying it but don't want my seed bombs to crumble
well, humph, here's one granny fit for this kind of gardening. i love the idea. makes me think of the grannies in starhawk's `fifth sacred thing` bombs away!
Love it! I wonder if I can make some of these and toss them from my bike as I whiz past (okay, maybe "meander past" would be more accurate). Keep those ideas coming!
Will this work with other kinds of seeds besides wildflowers?
It should work with other kinds of seeds, but the main idea is to create indigenous plant life.
This way, the plant will be able to thrive in the specific climate where you live (rainfall, sun etc).
Another important factor is that the plant is non-invasive. It won't drown out the other native plants or usurp all the resources.
Planting an edible garden on public land is hypothetically a great idea. However, before one accomplishes this, I highly stress the effort to be a conscious gardner. Please take a soil sample prior to planting. An infected plot of land could potentially create poisonous veggies!
You could find a soil testing kit at your local educational or school supply store.
Also, please don't forget that your local community college or university is a public resource. You can take a sample of your soil to a chemistry lab on campus and ask them to test the soil for you.
Plots of land next to highways are potentially dangerous because of the increased amounts of vapor pollution. There are harmful levels of smog in the air that can fall and soak up into the soil, or chemicals that wash off the road after a rainy season.
I'd like to try kitty litter, too – can anyone weigh in?
I LOVE this idea and can't wait to try it out!
Whoah on the "gardening not fit for granny" comment! Some of the most radical gardeners I know, myself and my best friend, are exceptions to such a comment!
I love the seed bomb idea and plan to make a whack of them with a friend later today. I may have had to give up my bicycle after 37 years of cycling, but I can still qualify as "radical" and am VERY proud of my record so far. And the fact that I passed on my values to my kids who are pretty darn conscientious and active too.
Ageism alienates... just what the NWO crowd want, divide and conquer, separation of human beings. Let's not fall for that old ploy any longer!
Does it have to be powdered clay? I was hoping to just use a regular terra cotta clay.
Thanks for the post mate you have written it very well.
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