How to make seed bombs - paper seed bomb and clay seed bomb tutorials

Seed bombs are a clever way to bring some colour and beauty into a barren piece of your garden and are great fun for kids to make. A seed bomb is basically seeds mixed with other ingredients and formed into a ball or a shape and then dried out. Once dried they can to given as a gift or thrown in your own garden. The basic principle is once the seed bombs get wet the outer layers start to disintegrate as the seeds inside start to germinate. Eventually, you will have a gorgeous bunch of blooms to enjoy where your seed bomb landed.

There are two types of seed bombs that you can create, one where the seeds are mixed with air dry clay and compost or one that uses pulped paper to incase the seeds. Both can be made into balls or shaped in a cookie cutter or silicone mould. The clay version tends to be a little more rustic whereas the paper ones can be made in a huge array of colours. Use a coloured paper of your choice or add some food colouring to it.

Seed bombs are becoming increasingly popular to give as DIY wedding favours and they work very well in a rustic-themed setting. They can be made to compliment any wedding colour scheme and look lovely in an organza bag with perhaps a personal tag added.

For more sustainable garden tutorials head over to our DIY plastic bottle wreath and our how to make an upcycled bird feeder tutorial. We also have a collection of sustainable DIY and crafts here on Gathered.

You will need (clay seed bombs)

Flower seeds

There's plenty of seed mixes you can use for your seed bombs. You can use any seeds you like but mixed flower seeds are more fun as you never know what array of flowers will appear. They're also great for the environment as they're loved by butterflies and bees. If you want to specifically help the honey bees we'd recommend including lavender, foxgloves, honeysuckle and crocus seeds. For butterflies include buddleia, red valerian, sedum and hebe seeds.

Air dry clay

Compost

Cookie cutter

Rolling pin