Seed balls are a great way to plant in an outdoor garden! We often make them as a Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift. Sometimes we will do this with a wildflower blend when making the seed balls for a gift. The ball creates protection for the exposed seeds and the compost in it provides nutrients.
Seed balls are a good way to plant local native plants. Wildflower mixes are good, but check them first to make sure they don’t contain local invasive species. Other good choices are vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, radish, or tomatoes.
Materials:
Natural clay
A pinch of compost or potting soil
Some seeds that are for locally native plants
Water – enough to create the consistency of dough
Instructions:
Take a ball of clay and knead it until it is soft. Then flatten it into a circle in your palm. Take a pinch of dampened potting soil or compost and put it in the middle of the flattened clay.
Make sure that it is wet enough to hold together.
Sprinkle the seeds into the soil.
Close the clay around the soil and seed mixture to form a ball.
When you are ready to use the seed balls you don’t need to have a great garden to grow them in. You can toss them into any patch of soil and wait for rain. Your seed balls have everything in them they need to grow – just add water!
Teaching From the Garden 