Seed Bombs – Blooming Surprises in the Garden

Guerilla gardening is the keyword when it comes to seed bombs. And that's exactly what these small bombs are meant to achieve: creating blooming bee meadows where there weren't any before. With seed bombs, it's super fast and easy.

You can either buy seed bombs ready-made, or you can simply make them yourself. That's just as quick as tossing them into a flower bed. And these small seed bombs really pack a punch: lots of seeds that ensure colorful bee meadows.

Seed bombs (also called seedballs or seed spheres) are small balls made of clay, earth, and seeds. The ingredients are mixed together and formed into small spheres that can then be distributed. Thanks to the clay in the mixture, the seed bombs don't break apart when they hit the ground. Only when it rains and the seed bombs get wet does the clay soften, allowing the seeds to germinate and grow.

You can fill seed bombs with a wide variety of seeds, depending entirely on your preference. If the seed bombs are intended as a gift, you can tailor the type of seeds to the recipient. Many seed bombs contain seeds of wild herbs and wildflowers. These provide food for many insects like bees, bumblebees, and other pollinators, helping to preserve native species in the region. Seed bombs can also contain vegetable seeds or kitchen herb seeds.

The best part about seed bombs: the first flowers start to sprout after just a few weeks, making the environment a little bit greener.

You can buy small seed bombs ready-made online, choosing from a wide variety of seed mixes. But if you want to decide exactly which plants sprout from your seed balls, you can pick out the seeds yourself and make your own seed bombs. It's quite simple and requires a relatively short list of ingredients:

• One cup of seeds
• Four cups of soil
• Four cups of clay or loam powder
• One cup of water

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. You might need a little more water to get the right consistency, so it helps to experiment a bit. Wearing gloves is recommended for mixing so the mixture doesn't stick too much to your fingers. Then, form small balls from the mixture and place them on newspaper to dry. Once the seed bombs are completely dry, you can toss them directly into your own garden bed or give them as a blooming gift.

Of course, it's a romantic idea to walk through the city, scatter seed bombs in flowerbeds, and help make the world a little bit brighter. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as it seems, because where you distribute seed bombs matters.

You are legally safe only on your own property. The moment seed bombs land on someone else's or public property, it could be considered property damage according to §303 StGB (German Criminal Code) if "a foreign object is unlawfully damaged or destroyed" or if "someone unauthorized changes the appearance of a foreign object not insignificantly and not only temporarily."

Therefore, if you want to green up the city, you should first get permission from the city for the desired location. Most cities are very accommodating and happy when urban greening is promoted. So: form your seed bombs, get legal clearance, and then go out and make cities more colorful!