These little balls of seeds and earth ready to burst into bloom in spring. It’s a fun and easy way to introduce a colourful splash of wildflowers to the spring garden. Seed balls make beautiful gifts. 

If you place your seed balls in the garden in autumn, they will slowly break down over winter into a little pile of soil and seeds - all set to explode into a colourful spring surprise! 

Seeds in nature….

Before wildflowers die down at the end of summer they leave nature a gift: the seeds that grew inside the flowers travel by wind or water or fly with the birds before they come to rest on the ground and wait until nature tells them it’s time to grow. 

How do seeds know it’s spring? Seeds only sprout when they have the right amount of hot or cold, the right amount of water and the right amount of light. Not every seed will get lucky and grow, that's why flowers make so many seeds. 

Making seed balls 

You will need:

1. Clay
   Clay is what holds your seed ball together. Pure clay is sticky and smooth when it’s wet and it sets hard as rock when dry. It is the tiniest particles in garden soil. You might already have clay soil in your garden, especially if you dig deep. You might find it on a bank on the side of a road. Or you can buy terracotta clay powder or kitty litter that’s made from clay.
2. Compost
   Compost holds the nutrients that baby plants need to get growing. You can use potting mix or seed raising mix instead, or worm castings from your worm farm. Home made compost is not the best for seed balls because it usually contains weed seeds. Sieve the compost to get rid of lumpy bits.
3. Seeds
   Choose a wildflower mix from the garden centre or collect and make your own wild flower seed mix from your favourite flower seeds from the garden. This is a good way to get the seeds that grow most easily in your soil and climate. 

Step one: Collect some clay and crush it into a powder if dry (Do this outside as it can be dusty work!). Alternatively, soften it by soaking dry clay pieces in water.

Step two: Add a handful of compost for every handful of dry clay and mix together. Add a little water and more clay or more compost until you can make a golfball-sized ball that holds together without being too sticky. Squeeze out extra water as you roll the balls.

Step three: Mix some wildflower seeds with fine compost or seed raising mix and roll the balls in the mix to coat them with seed. For bigger seeds, poke 3 or four seeds into each ball and then reshape the ball in your hands. Tiny seeds need light to germinate.

Step four: Leave your seed balls to dry.

Step five: Place, toss or throw your seed balls where you would like them to grow. But never throw a seed ball in a conservation area or on someones farm!

SPRING SURPRISE:  Try out different varieties in your seed balls and let nature decide what grows. You can grow herbs or vegetables this way too.

Did your know?

Many wildflower seeds need cold stratification: they won’t grow until they have had a certain amount of time in the cold. So, if they spend winter lying on the ground outside they are more likely to sprout than if they have a cosy winter inside a seed packet indoors.