Project | Make Seed Bombs

For an explosion of flowers in a neglected patch of land, seed bombs are a fun way of
guerrilla gardening.

You will need:

Seeds (1 part)
Peat-free compost (5 parts)
Powdered red clay (available online and at most craft shops) 2–3 parts
Mixing bowl Plates

1 How many bombs you make will depend on how many seeds you have. It’s easiest to do this recipe using cups (actual cups, rather than US measurements) – for one cup of seeds, you’ll need 5 cups of compost and 2–3 cups of powdered clay.

2 Pour all the ingredients into a bowl and mix, then gradually add cold water until it begins to bind together – you don’t want it too wet.

3 Roll the mixture into meatball-sized balls (making sure each ball has plenty of seeds in it). Place the balls on a plate to dry out in the sun.

4 Once dried, throw them on to soil and cross your fingers for flowers. They make great gifts, especially if you put a few in a hessian bag.

Maker’s note: You can make these using air-drying clay, too. Simply take a large lump of clay and flatten it into a circle, sprinkle over compost and seeds then squish it all together so the seeds are evenly distributed. Pull off lumps of the mix and roll into balls, or roll it out and cut shapes using cookie cutters before allowing to air dry.

This project was taken from our feature Gather, Grow and Gift in our October issue, a collection of ideas for makes involving seeds, including seed papers and seed packets as well as these seed bombs.

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More seed inspiration…

More from our October issue…

Make | Personalised Seed Packets

A thoughtful gift for a new gardener or anyone you want to share the joy of your garden with

Spend a happy weekend afternoon making gifts inspired by nature. In our November issue we have instructions for making goats’ milk and lavender soap, imprinted clay dishes and also these simple but beautiful personalised seed packets.

You will need:
Seeds
Pressed flowers (to make your own you will need to press them at least 2 weeks in advance of using)
Glue
Pencil
Pretty paper to make the envelopes
Plain paper for flower description
Scissors
An old empty seed packet or small money envelope
A bowl of water
Thin cardboard
Pen

To make:
1 Place the empty seed packet in a bowl of water until the glue eases apart. Be very careful when doing this, as the paper will have become fragile. Leave to dry before using to make a cardboard template, by drawing round the edge on the piece of card.
2 Use the template to trace around on the wrong side of your pretty paper to make the seed packet. Fold, and glue the sides together.
3 Fill the seed packet with seeds (around 10 per packet), before gluing shut. We suggest seeds they will be able to sow in springtime, or seeds for herbs that can be sown straight away.
4 Cut out a plain piece of paper, approximately 1 cm smaller all around than the seed packet. Carefully stick a pressed flower (ideally one of the same type as the seeds) to the front and label it with the flower name. Stick the label to your seed packet with a thin layer of glue.

Maker’s note: Planting advice you’d like to pass on? You could make another small label for the back and list it here, along with the date the seed packets were made.

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More from our November issue…

More weekend projects…

Garden hacks: DIY seed tapes

Seed tapes – biodegradable strips with the seeds spaced at regular intervals – make planting a little easier. Simply bury the tape rather than faffing with fiddly individual seeds. Make your own and put aside for planting later.

YOU WILL NEED:
biodegradable unbleached loo roll
3 tbsp unbleached flour
1.5 tbsp water
toothpick
small spoon
pen
ruler
seeds

1 Pull off a few lengths of the loo roll. 
2 Fold in half length-wise to create a fold line. Unfold.
3 Mix flour and water into a paste. 
4 Dip the toothpick into the glue paste, before dabbing onto a seed. 
5 Place the seeds into the middle of the paper on the fold, spaced per the packet instructions.
6 Once all seeds are in place, paste along the paper edge with the spoon, before refolding to seal. 
7 Roll up, then store somewhere cool and dry in a sealed container. To plant, prepare the soil, according to packet instructions, and unfurl the tape. Cover over with soil and give it a good water.

More from the March issue:

More Garden hacks:

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View the sampler here

Plants for free: How to collect seeds

The flowering season may be coming to an end but there is still abundance in the garden. This is the time to collect seeds, propagate and divide.

October is the time to harvest a different sort of crop: seeds, cuttings and divided plants to fill the garden with colour next year. Here’s how to go about it...

Collect your own seeds

Set off with a brown paper bag, a pair of scissors and a skip in your step. If you want to bulk up stocks of a favourite plant or ensure new supplies of an annual, now’s the time to collect their seeds. Foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea), love-in-a-mist (nigella damascena), cosmos (cosmos bipinnatus) and honesty (lunaria annua) are ideal for beginners and will easily store and germinate the following spring. However, there are many other annuals as well as perennials, biennials, alpines, ornamental grasses, vegetables, herbs and some trees and shrubs that can all be grown from seed that you’ve collected.

1 Choose your plants carefully

Go for strong, healthy ones as they’re likely to have good- quality seed. However, be aware if they’re hybrids (specially bred plants that are unlikely to have the same qualities as the parent plant) rather than species, as the plant won’t “come true” from seed. In the case of hybrids, either buy new plants the following year or be prepared for the collected seeds to produce something completely different from this year’s plants.

2 Collect the seeds

Once you’ve decided which plants you’re saving seed from, the trick is to collect it just before it has dispersed. It’s a bit of a waiting game, but once the seed head has ripened and changed colour (from green to brown, black or red) and is dry and crisp, it’s time to spring into action. Pick individual seed heads and use separate paper bags for each species or, if they’ll come away easily, place a paper bag over the seed head and gently shake.

3 Dry the seeds

Once you’ve gathered all the seeds you want, lay them out on a warm windowsill or a greenhouse bench – you can even find a spot in the airing cupboard. You need to give them time to dry out so you can get to the seed more easily. Clean away the ‘chaff’ or casing until you’re left with just the seed. Check to see which seeds you’ve collected and if they need to be sown straight away. Hellebores, for example, can be stored to sow next spring when the weather warms up.

4 Transfer your seeds into individual paper packets and label them

You’ll be surprised how satisfying this is. Keep them in an airtight container and, if you have any sachets of silica gel from new shoes or bags, place a couple in with the seeds to absorb excess moisture, which would otherwise cause the seeds to rot. If not, add a handful or two of rice to the container and find a spot for the container in the fridge.

Want more? Turn to page 97 of October's The Simple Things. Buy or download your copy now.

Sow and grow

The Simple Things Gardening Editor, Cinead McTernan goes back to gardening school, with a course on sowing seeds. Read her top tips for healthy sowing and growing. No matter how many times I sow seeds nothing quite beats the buzz of seeing little green shoots as they start to germinate. The journey from seed to plant is like some form of alchemy and it still amazes me that in a matter of months these tiny things provide a season’s worth (or more) of foliage, flowers and crops.

If you’re new to growing, it’s a good idea to read up about sowing seeds or, better still, find a course that will take you through the basics and ensure you have success when it comes to growing your own plants.

I recently spent the most inspiring morning with garden writer Zia Allaway. She runs half day and day workshops from her Garden Room at her Hertfordshire home. She covers an interesting range of subjects from sowing to propagating, and from container growing to planning a veg garden.

I chose to brush up on my seed sowing techniques and though I’ve sown a fair few seeds in my time I picked up some clever tips that will ensure I get my seeds off to the very best start this year. Thanks to Zia I will try to be more vigilant when it comes to spotting the moment my seeds start to germinate when they’re in a propagator (or covered seed tray). Removing the plastic cover as soon as the green shoots appear will help prevent the dreaded damping off disease from killing-off a tray or pot of seedlings.

Knowledge is power as they say, and we spent an interesting hour or so going over the science behind seeds - why and how they grow. Zia believes that understanding the whole picture will give you useful pointers about how to look after your seedlings and plants when you start sowing yourself. It’s a great way to approach other aspects of gardening too - if you’re choosing a new plant, knowing where it originally came from indicates where it will grow best in your own garden: If a plant is used to the dry hot Mediterranean conditions found in its native habitat, chances are it won’t be very happy in a damp, woodland area.

The other great thing about gardening courses is that you have the chance to get your hands dirty. After coffee and cake Zia took us through sowing dahlia seeds and pricking out dahlia seedlings. Not only great fun, it helped boost confidence levels for those attendees that weren’t familiar with the techniques. I found it thoroughly inspiring and a morning spent talking seeds with Zia prompted me to do another round of seed-ordering when I got home that afternoon. It also sowed the seeds of an idea to grow extra plants to sell on my doorstep!