Guerrilla gardening: the act of beautifying a neglected urban space with greenery. It’s not exactly a new craze, however the combat stakes have been raised for green thumbed battlers with the emergence of a new line of weapons: seed bombs, greenaids and flower guns. You’ll find all sorts online but for obvious reasons to do with custom border restrictions you can’t import them from another country – they ain’t letting dirt and seeds on international transport! So if you can’t find any in your area why not take some initiative and make them yourself?! Find out how, instructions below.

A selection available online…

Seed bombs by Visualingual, available on Etsy.com

Visualingual in Cincinatti has a range of[rss-cut] seedbombs available from their Etsy store with several recipes of varying wildflower and grass seeds for specific areas in the US. These are bird, bee and butterfly friendly with their east coast mixture containing “Baby Blue Eyes, Baby’s Breath, Black Eye Susan, Blue Flax, California Poppy, Cornflower, Gloriosa Daisy, Lance-Leaf Coreopsis, Mexican Hat, None-so Pretty, Ox-Eye Daisy, Perennial Gaillardia, Perennial Lupine, Plains Coreopsis, Purple Coneflower, Red Poppy, Rose Mallow, Scarlet Flax, Shasta Daisy, Siberian Wallflower, Sulphur Cosmos, Sweet William, Wild Annual Sunflower, Wild Cosmos, and Wild Larkspur.” Phew!

The Commonstudio also from the US, have launched ‘Greenaid’, an ingenious project where seedbombs are distributed in gumball style machines.

Seedbomb machine by the Commonstudio

According to their website “Greenaid is equally an interactive public awareness campaign, a lucrative fundraising tool, and a beacon for small scale grass roots action that engages directly yet casually with local residents to both reveal and remedy issues of spatial inequity in their community.” The creative minds behind Greenaid, Daniel Phillips & Kim Karlsrud, explain the concept in more detail:

Suck UK have gone one step further developing a seedbomb range shaped like grenades. Cool eh?

Flower grenade from Suck UK

And for the hardcore gardener, there’s the revolver seed bomb from Plant the Piece, created by artist/activists Christopher Humes & Noah Scalin.

The seedgun by Plant The Piece

DIY seed bombs

The crucial thing to remember when making these yourself is to choose native, non invasive plant seeds to work harmoniously with the natural ecosystem – you don’t want to disrupt other plants, local bird or insects populations, or cause any other environmental damage so do some research before embarking on your mission.

Ingredients:
1. powdered clay
2. worm castings or compost
3. 12 native grass and/or wildflower seeds
4. water
5. mixing container
6. stick

Instructions:
1. mix together 5 parts powder clay, 1 part worm castings/compost, 1 part seeds.
2. add just enough water to make a nice muddy clay consistency
3. roll into balls, about 4cm across.
4. allow to dry in a cool, dry place for about 3 days
5. find a space that needs some green lovin’: throw and grow!

About Ingrid Schroder

A Sydney-side freelance graphic designer, photographer & yoga teacher - I find myself turning to nature for guaranteed revival from the crazy pace of city life - be it digging in my garden, capturing natural beauty through a lens, floating in the ocean, practicing yoga or out exploring this incredible planet we all call home. Follow me on twitter @Cohabitaire