How To Make Seed Bombs: Spread the Love

Make your own seed bombs with these easy tips and recipe.

What Are Seedbombs?

Seed bombs are neat little packages of seeds, compost, and clay. They’re a joy to make and equally as wonderful to share and grow. Make them as a rainy day or screen-free weekend activity with your family and friends.

Be a Naturalist

Once they’re dry, cast them throughout your yard, garden, or neglected stretches of your neighborhood. I like to take this activity a step further and approach the process like a casual scientific experiment, making educated guesses as to which varieties will grow and which pollinators and other animals will visit once the flowers grow and bloom. Keep a journal of what, where, and when you cast seed bombs, when seedlings emerge, what’s thriving, and what’s not to help guide future plantings.

Making and spreading Seed bombs is a small, but radical Act. create habitat – a mecca for birds, bees, and butterflies.

Make Neglected Spaces Welcoming

I strongly suggest using seeds native to your region, especially when casting them out in the landscape. Always avoid invasive species. Consider experimenting with a range of native, ornamental, and edible varieties when making seed bombs for your home garden. You’ll have something to eat and the wildlife will love you for it.

What You Need

• A bowl and spoon for mixing
• A measuring cup or other device – you’ll be measuring in parts so it could be anything: a recycled container, ladle, etc.
• A cookie sheet or other surface that can be used for drying your seed bombs
• Storage containers
• One small bucket of water
• Art clay
• Organic compost
• Seeds (Smaller seeds tend to hold together better but it’s always worth experimenting.) I like to use native wildflower seeds or grass seeds or a combination of both. It depends on your purpose. Are you creating a meadow, working on a restoration project or simply hoping to grow flowers in a place they haven’t grown before?
• If you plan to give them as a gift using the trick I demonstrated in the video you’ll need toilet paper tubes, paper and ribbon.

What You Do

• Watch my video and subscribe to my YouTube channel.
• Combine 5 parts clay, 3 parts compost, 1 part seeds.
• Mix with water until seed bombs hold together but aren’t overly wet.
• Set them aside to dry in a spot out of direct sun and with good air circulation.
• Let’s get started! Spread the love.

Other videos & articles you might enjoy:

How to Grow a Small Space Salad Garden

Worm Composting 101: How to Make & Use a Simple Worm Bin

What to Plant: Easiest Herbs to Grow Indoors

Read more on wildflower meadows with the Nature Conservancy: Green Concrete? Or All You Can Eat?

*This article was originally published in December of 2014.