With Spring officially started here in Australia, it's the perfect time to do this simple DIY project which will brighten up your backyard in no time! It's also super easy to do (you only need a few ingredients) which makes it great for kids to get involved with. There are many different types of seed bombs, some are made from clay, others compost. To keep mine super simple I am just using recycled paper and seeds in my bombs.
Why Make Seed Bombs
Seed bombs help seeds to have germination conditions. The mixture seed bombs are made from retain water which is essential to germination. They also stop the seeds from being blown away in the wind or eaten by rodents or birds.
What You Will Need
3-6 Packets of Seeds - You can use whatever collection of seeds you would like. In this tutorial I used Sunflowers, Cosmos, Snapdragons, Aster, Zinnia and Swan River Daisies which have bee attracting flowers. Just be aware that larger seeds may not always stay inside your seed bombs as easily as smaller seeds will. The seeds I choose all have a similar germination time, planting seasons and growing conditions. So keep that in mind if mixing your seeds.
6 cups torn up recycled paper - For the tutorial I used some scrap book paper off cuts and some old notebook paper. Take not that the colour of your paper will affect the end product. You may want to use a single colour paper like pink, to make pink seed bombs (gift idea anyone). If you use newspaper or a combination of paper colour you seed bombs are likely to end up grey. You need to tear up your paper into small squares. You can use scissors to do this, or even a paper shredder if you have one.
Water - Enough to cover over your torn up paper.
Bowls - You need a bowl big enough to hold your torn up paper and enough water to cover over the paper. You will also need another bowl for catching excess liquid from straining your paper pulp.
Blender - This will puree your soaked torn up paper. A hand held food mixer or food process can do the job as well.
Moulds - Preferable silicone, as your seed bombs are going to need to sit in them for a while. I am using individual cup cake moulds in the tutorial but a muffin pan can do the job. If you don’t have any moulds you can just roll the mixture in your hands.
Strainer - A thin meshed strainer that will let the water pass through but keep the paper from falling through.
Paper towel - Use this at the end to soak up any excess water from your seed bombs.
What You Need To Do
Decide what flowers you would like to grow. Make sure they are suitable for the area you are going to grow them in.
Collect your paper and tear into small pieces.
Place your torn paper into a bowl and cover with cold water.
Allow paper to soak for 15 minutes or longer.
Once your paper has soaked add it in sections to the blender with a bit of the water (you don’t want to burn out your blender motor). Blend for a few sections until the paper mulch thickens into a pulp.
Pour into a strainer over a bowl to catch the excess water.
Gently use your hands to press down on the paper pulp to remove excess water. You still want a little water in your pulp to allow the seeds to ‘glue’ into the bombs.
Mix your seeds through your paper pulp. (I kept the sunflowers separate as they were larger than the other seeds and I want to grow them in a different area).
Fill your mould with some paper seed pulp. Squeeze out any excess water over a bowl until the seed bomb is fairly compact. Continue until you have used up all the pulp.
Use some paper towel to press down on each seed bomb to soak up any left over moisture in the seed bombs. You want to remove as much water as possible as otherwise it will take too long for the seed bombs to dry out and your seed can germinate early.
Allow 24-48 hours for your seed bombs to dry out and then gently remove from the mould.
Scatter them through your garden or place in a pot and keep them moist to germinate your seeds.
Happy Planting!
