What are Seed Balls?
Seed balls are compact balls of seeds, compost, and clay which are designed to be scattered to sow the seeds. Rather than raking and conditioning the soil and then carefully distributing seeds, people can simply throw seed balls at set intervals. There are a number of applications for a seed ball, including farming, urban beautification, and gardening, and these useful garden tools are very easy to make. The design for the seed ball is often credited to Masanobu Fukuoka, an advocate of natural farming. He suggested using seed balls rather than till cultivation, and the trend slowly spread to include a variety of gardeners from all over the world. He claimed that the balls could be sown on a wide variety of soils, including thin and poor soils, because the ball contained enough nutrients to get the plants started, allowing them to establish themselves so that they could adapt to the conditions. A typical seed ball can include seeds from a variety of plants, mixed with compost and clay.
Earth dumplings are a bit like rum balls except that the ingredients that are formed into balls are seeds, clay, compost, and manure. A nourishing growing medium in which the seed can develop is furnished by the clay, compost and manure which re-hydrate after substantial rain triggering germination. In the meantime, the seedballs protect the seed from predators such as seed collecting ants, birds and grubs, which otherwise can dramatically reduce the number of viable seeds available to germinate. Apparently you can even use seedballs to successfully sow into established swards of crop, pasture or weeds. How to Make Seed Balls Natural Farmer Masanobu Fukuoka conducts a workshop for making seed balls at his natural farm and forest in Japan. Masanobu Fukuoka was a Japanese farmer who developed what many consider to be a revolutionary method of sustainable agriculture. He is also the author of “The One-Straw Revolution” and several other books examining both his philosophy and his method o
Seed balls are one-half inch diameter models of the living world containing all the seeds for a complete habitat, wild or domestic garden, or both in one. Hundreds of kinds of seeds, soil humus, dry soil from your landscape and sand form the solid components of seed balls. When mixed with water and rolled into balls, they become little adobe gardens. They are cost effective, hundreds of times faster to apply and can be made by anyone anywhere in the world where there is soil and seed. HOW TO MAKE THEM Step 1: Gather your materials • 3 parts dry humus, from compost with live mycorrhizal fungi soil inoculates • 1 part dry mixed seeds, assortment of all desired native plants • 5 parts soil from your landscape, dried and sifted • 1 to 2 parts dry fine sand, cleaned and sifted (if clay does not have a little sand) • 1 to 2 parts water Step 2:. Sift dry soil through a sifter to eliminate lumps. Step 3: Measure out one part seeds to three parts of compost to five parts of soil. Thoroughly sti
Seed balls are marble-sized balls formed by combining dry red clay, compost, native wildflower and/or grass seeds and water. They are rolled by hand and dried to be sewn outside to establish or revegetate an area with native plants. Why not just hand-broadcast the seed or dig a garden? Good question! These are still accepable ways to introduce seeds in some areas, however the seed ball functions to protect the seeds from heat, being blown away, or eaten by birds, insects or other animals until there is sufficient rain to melt the clay and allow the seeds to germinate. They are particularly helpful in windy arid environments. Making seed balls is easy and it’s fun.
