Seed Bombs: Blast Earth with life and colours and support biodiversity

As spring is coming this month, it will soon be time to plant seeds in your garden or balcony.

How about an inspiring idea to celebrate spring and seed colours around you? 

You can do it simply for the fun and joy of gifting friends and family with something other than a chocolate egg for Easter.

However, you could also decide to make seed bombs as a symbolic action to empower your intention-setting or healing process. Growing seeds, nurturing them with water or offering them fertile soil to sprout is a potent manifestation symbol. You will symbolically nurture your intention each time you attend to your seed and flowers. It is a visual reminder that what you seed, nurture and care for will blossom in time.

Whether you use the seed bomb as a gift, a playful activity with your kids or a symbolic gesture, you can imagine two versions of seed bombs:

• Biodiversity-supportive seed bombs are ideal for anyone who loves nature but has no clue about gardening. These have the fun advantage of making people and kids feel like city pirates throwing seeds in their neighbourhood's unloved or unkempt ground. Untended roadsides and medians are the ideal targets, as you don't want to mess around with someone's garden plans. Biodiversity-supportive seed bombs usually support bees, other insects, and pollinators. In dense cities, they will bring pedestrians a pleasant and colourful distraction.
• Cooking seed bombs are for your green-thumbed balcony gardeners or gardener friends. They are thoughtful presents that support your friends, colleagues, or family's health and pantry. Even if your friend does not cook but loves mojitos, a mint seed bomb would give them the green they need for their cocktails.

 

Choose your seed carefully to empower your environment's biodiversity.

Choosing your seed according to your environment is essential when making seed bombs. You want to respect Indigenous flora, which attracts birds and bees and nurtures the animal kingdom around it. 

Flowers and trees also learned how to co-create with one another, and exotic spices could disturb that balance.

For example, ambrosia was imported from North America and grows its territory yearly in Europe. That may seem like a new weed like any other, except that solely in France, ambrosia has already provoked between 1 and 3,5 million people affected by allergies (which generated an approximate cost of 59 to 186 million Euro per year according to 2020 Anse statistics); imagine how that number would be multiplied when playing with Europe statistics.

That is only about human matter; when invading new territory, some plants can affect other plants' pollination, access to light, or nutrients. In turn, these plants will disappear, affecting some animals' sustainability.

Not all plants are invasive, but when creating seed bombs, you want more than to bring colour to a garden; you want to support an ecosystem.

If you are unsure which seeds to choose, ask your local garden centre. More and more garden centres have seed blends crafted for your area.

 

Mixed seeds or one plant species at a time for your seed bomb?

When you create your seed bomb, consider where you want to use it before mixing the seeds. 

For example, if you make cooking seed bombs, you will prefer separating the seeds so that each herb has space to grow (mint is quite invasive and will take up all the space if you mix it with other plants). However, mixing cherry tomato seeds with basil will be good, as basil will repel tomato pests.

For biodiversity seed bombs, I recommend purchasing a ready-made blend from your favourite local garden centre. Environmental associations usually inform them about what could benefit their environment. Some associations also have blends you can purchase; thek the ones around you to support theisell blendsactions

Finally, you could spend some time at your garden centre studying sprouting and blossoming times to create a blend in which the flowers will blossom from spring to fall.

 

3 Options to make Seed Bombs: 2 vegans and 1 recycling your eggshells

There are many ways to create seed bombs; choosing what you prefer is up to you.

Clay, the vegan and cost-free seed bomb

This one is ideal for flower pirates who love surprising neighbors or bringing colour to city streets. The idea is to throw these bombs in unused soil (to avoid destroying the work of city gardeners) and let nature make its wonder through time. The seed bombs with soft clay will dissolve in the rain. 

 

I borrowed this idea from a fantastic initiative by the Bee Camp organization in Athens, which aims to promote more flowers and biodiversity in the Greek capital. Any organic air-dry clay works perfectly for this project when appropriately mixed with a pinch of soil and seeds.

If you're on a budget, you can find clay in nature. Look near construction sites where the soil has been dug up; some may be there. Additionally, areas around lakes, ponds, and streams often have clay deposits. Sometimes, the clay will already have the moist and shiny appearance of store-bought clay, while other times, it may look like crushed dry soil.

You need:

• Clay
• Seeds

How to Make Clay Seed Bombs

• Mix your clay and seed.
• Create small portions (like small falafel or meatballs).
• Display them on a tray to dry them
• Let it dry 2-3 days before gifting
• When dry, you can wrap or offer them in a basket.

 

Paper mache, the vegan and recycling seed bombs

Paper is an excellent choice for protecting seeds from insects while they establish their roots. It also adds carbon to soil, making it particularly beneficial for enhancing compost.

Since 2001, newspaper ink in Europe must be "edible," meaning it doesn't harm the environment. Therefore, newspaper pages and matte paper flyers are good options for creating paper mache. However, glossy paper may contain harmful chemicals. 

The adhesive for papier-mâché is a simple mixture of corn flour and water, making it completely natural.

You need:

• newspaper pages
• 1 mug of plain flour
• 1 mug of warm water
• composted soil
• seeds

How to Make Paper-Mache Seed Bombs

• Mix the plain flour and water and stir until it creates a smooth texture.
• Create a small basket by dipping the ripped paper pieces in the natural glue and assembling them (I use a small balloon as a support to create the shape).
• Let it dry 2-3 days before gifting.

 

Repurpose your eggshells into a seed bomb.

Stop throwing your eggshells away and use them to create seed bombs!

Eggshells are quite a magic wand for your garden. Using them to create seed bombs will offer a protective shell to your seed, repelling slugs and snails.

But there is more: the high dose of calcium will reduce the soil's acidity, preventing rot and blight of tomatoes (caused by lack of calcium). The only thing you will need to do is crush the shell a little bit before planting it.

You need:

• Empty eggshells
• composted soil
• seeds

How to Make Eggshell Seed Bombs

• Empty a few eggshells (remove the egg yolk and white fully).
• Fill the eggshell with composted soil.
• Add the seeds (check the seeds pack to see if the seeds need to stay on the surface or just below ).

 

I hope you enjoyed this creative inspiration.

Have fun!