Feeling like a bomb has been dropped on you after yesterday’s federal budget?  Waiting to see if another’s going to be dropped on you tomorrow during the provincial budget? Well, take a break from the bad news by hosting a Seed Bomb party to celebrate Earth Day!

Have each guest bring their favourite salad, main dish or dessert made from locally grown and sourced ingredients. It doesn’t have to be fancy or look pretty it just has to taste good. As the host, you’re responsible for supplying lots of local tap water for toasting Gaia’s health. We don’t want to offend the guest of honour by serving bottled water and encouraging its commodification! But your main task is to supply the ingredients for Gaia’s birthday gift: lots and lots of seed bombs.

Seed bombs are neat little packages made of compost, clay and seeds. They can be as small as a marble or as large as a golf ball. Compost and clay protect the seeds and keep them from being blown away or eaten by birds and small animals. 

When it rains, or when snow melts, the compost and clay soften and seeds are released from the bomb. When the temperature is right and enough water is available then the seeds germinate and begin to grow. Some seeds, mainly perennials, may remain dormant until one winter has passed. This process of cold stratification encourages seed germination the following spring. Eventually, the seed bomb will completely dissolve but it may take weeks, months or even a couple of years. 

Create bombs that include plants that like to bed down together. Companion planting reduces harmful insects while encouraging healthy plant growth. Done right, companion planting makes pesticides obsolete which boosts the health of Mother Earth. Tomatoes like to cuddle up with marigolds, bee balm, nasturtiums and parsley.  Sunflowers create a natural trellis for beans and squash can be used to fill in around the base. Kale, clover, nasturtiums, and melons like to hang out together.

Create your own pollinator bombs using bee balm, milkweed, black-eyed Susan, and Echinacea (purple cone flower) — all of which are hardy perennials. Add some alyssum, a self-seeding annual that will create a fragrant ground cover for many years to come. 

Use your bombs as a means of protest. Include only open pollinated, native species and non-genetically modified seeds. Think of the beauty you can create with just a few native flowers, herbs and vegetables that rely on rain showers as their only source of water.

Seed bombs are ideal for throwing into hard to reach areas of gardens and yards. They can also be placed in window boxes and planters. They make wonderful gifts for would-be gardeners who need a hand replacing their front lawns with self-sufficient perennials and self-seeding annuals.

Guerilla gardeners take seed bombing one step further launching bombs or plant seedlings and more established plants in areas throughout their city that need a little pretty or offer passersby a little free food.

Make Gaia just a little happier, healthier and more beautiful on her special day, drop some bombs that are going to improve lives.

Doreen Nicoll

Doreen Nicoll is weary of the perpetual misinformation and skewed facts that continue to concentrate wealth, power and decision making in the hands of a few to the detriment of the many. As a freelance...