Seedbombs are great fun to make – and to launch – and are a vehicle to improving natural diversity in your area.
Seedbombs – creation
- Take a small amount of clay and roll into a ball, around 4-5cm diameter. Squash it onto a flat surface
to make a pancake around 8-10cm across. - Take a pinch of seeds and place in the centre of the pancake, then add a pinch of compost.
- Fold the edges in to cover the seeds and compost, then roll into a ball again, and leave to dry out.
Tips: Don’t use polymer clay, or air-drying clay that is reinforced with fibreglass strands for this activity.
You can find advice on choosing and sourcing wildflower seeds from growwilduk.com a project run by Kew Gardens.
Seedbombs – launch
- Find an area of bare ground (ideally prepared by raking with no grass or footfall). This could be a sad part of a park, a bit of wasteland or an unloved front garden.
- Throw your “bombs” onto the bare earth – they do not need to be buried.
- The rain will wash away the clay and disperse the seeds into the soil, where they will grow next spring.
Wildflowers
Why are wildflowers a brilliant thing to have around? They are beautiful for a start but what else?
They can be important in supporting the population of insects, which is important for the ecosystem as a whole. If you have the chance to revisit the site where you plant your seedbombs, you could look at what has grown successfully, and see if there is any difference between the species that thrive in drier/damper places, sunny/ shady spots or different soil types.
Take It Further
There are many more activities about the environment for you to try out on our Climate and Ecological Emergency Page, including making your own biodiversity area and building a bug hotel.
