Compost Awareness Week 2019 Making Seed balls or Seed bombs

Seed balls, or compost balls are used for “seed bombing” where the balls are thrown, dropped by hand   or even from the air into the area where they are to germinate .  They also provide a means of sowing wild flowers in school grounds and allotment sites  neglected areas of towns and cities. As part of Compost Awareness Week Stokes Wood Allotments in Leicester will be providing workshops in making Seed balls on the afternoon of 5^th May

The conventional Speedball is  made by  rolling the  seeds in a ball of  compost which is coated with a layer of  wet with the compost and clay acting as a carrier for the seeds so they can be thrown into inaccessible areas. Each seed ball provides the seed(s) with a mini ecosystem.   However, as this technique  will normally require the purchase of clay, we use  an alternative  suitable using flour instead of clay.  The completed balls  are then placed, or more often thrown into the garden or  ground, where it is hoped the plants will grow. dissolve.

I normally make speedballs in groups of 16 – 20 children with each child making three balls if they are paying to participate and making the bombs to take away at the end of the session. However, if  the plan is to seed bomb a school garden each student  may only make one bomb  and the bombing can take place in small teams with each team bombing a marked off section of the garden. When the seeds have germinated the students can see how effective they have been in covering the whole of the target area.

More details on speedballs go to http://www.carryoncomposting.com/441149735. And on the Stokes wood Demonstration Site Compost Week activities http://www.carryoncomposting.com/441149731