Monday, March 19, 2007

The Seed Ball

I wanted to draw your attention to this post on Heavy Petal about the seed ball.

The Seed Ball?

Yes, it is formed by encasing seed in compost, and clay to form a little ball that is not eaten by animals, does not dry out easily and comes with its own natural fertilizer. It is especially useful for broadcasting seed (this seed is not planted but simply tossed on top of the soil) over neglected sites with poor soil.

Guerrilla Gardeners might be interested in this idea if they know of an abandoned area that could use a little native plant life re-introduced.

Guerrilla Gardening?


Yes, this is when people take the land into their own hands. Know a patch of pathetic soil forgotten by the city? Why not garden it.

Don't I need premission?

That's why it's called guerrilla gardening. Get it?

I have my sights on one site not too far from here. P.S. If you live in the captial region and want to join ranks, contact me... my camera takes night shots.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The seed ball sounds like a great idea,
but I'd hate to get hit with it.

Ottawa Gardener said...

Note: Don't 'broadcast' in the vicinity of others Thanks chigiy.

kate said...

I'm convinced ... some guerilla gardening is going to happen near me.

The seed ball is a cool idea!

Has the snow melted there? We are promised 14c on Thursday... don't you just love the weather forecasters of Environment Canada??

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link! I just spent a day seed-bombing the downtown eastside. Great fun - you get to feel like a rebel with a cause!

Anonymous said...

Link to a new book on the topic called Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto:

http://www.newsociety.com/bookid/3945

Anonymous said...

Hi!

I guerilla garden in Ottawa. I did two planters on the corner of Nepean and Metcalfe, in front of the Medical Arts building.

If you'd like to join up, I have friends with flowers and such. I don't use seed balls myself: I actually buy flats of flowers and bags of dirt and rebuild lost spots. I like perennials and self-seeding hardy annuals.

If you go onto flickr.com and search for "guerilla gardening", you'll find pictures of the stuff I've done with my boyfriend in Ottawa.

Also, GuerillaGardening.org has a message board for Ottawa. The guy, Richard, who runs the site gave me the message board and I haven't used it yet.

--J