Looking for a fun little gift for the gardeners on your list? How about Wildflower Seed Balls?
The following is a fun Gardening Tip and guest post
from The Brady Girls… enjoy!!
Seed Balls
What on earth are DIY Seed Balls? Well to describe them, they are clever little balls of clay, dirt, and seeds that you can make and share as gifts.
Kids will love making and using these because it involves getting their hands busy in the wonderful cool clay and dirt. Truth be known, I had a great time getting my hands dirty and squishing the cool concoction between my fingers. It was like I was 5 again. Love it!
Earth Day is a few days away… Mother’s Day is coming, and let’s not forget that the end of the school year is fast approaching! A teacher might like a little thank you gift that keeps on giving!
DIY Seed Balls are super easy to make, but are a bit messy so be sure to make these outside. All you need is a small container of red clay… the air dry variety works best.
To this I added dirt from the garden. Yup, regular dirt.
I did relocate a few worms, but that is the fun of it!
Related: 55 Easy Gardening Tips for Beginners
Seed Balls Reviews
What Your Frugal Friends Are Saying About This Wildflower Seed Project…
Cyndi writes: “They were a big hit as a party favor.”
Mel writes: “Turned out great!”
Jessica writes: “Cute idea for you classroom”
Melody writes: “Thanks for posting this. I had fun creating it, and it is wonderful how the seeds spread. ”
Supplies Needed
- Wild Flower Seeds
- Air Dry Red Clay
- Seed Starting Mix
- Clear Gift Bags
How to Make Seed Balls
Mix together about 4 parts Clay to 1 part Seed Starting Mix. You do not have to be exact here, we are not baking a cake. 🙂
Then I took about 10 packs of various wildflower seeds that are native to my area and added only enough water to get everything workable. I believe I only used a bit less than 2 cups water.
Then the fun part… I mixed and squished and mixed some more until everything was the consistency of thick cookie dough, not too sticky. That was my favorite part!!
Then roll these into the desired size. I made the DIY Seed Balls smaller than a ping pong ball and it made about 5 dozen.
Set them on a tray until completely dry. Depending on where you live and your humidity levels, it could take a couple of days. Then package up and give away!
There should be instructions included, something fun and clever explaining what these funny little things are.
Something like: “Fling me into the wild blue yonder where I will be sure to land on ground that is in need of beauty and color, like a vacant field or abandoned lot.
Or plant in a sunny location and water regularly.”
Now when I was all done with this little project, and began to clean up, I passed by the spinach patch I realized that it did NOT have to be just flowers. Think about it -lettuce and spinach and kale!
All of these grow well and quick.
Deer and other woodland creatures will love this as a treat.
Oh and a side note. After I had finished and hours had passed, my dear Hubby saw a plateful of little round, brown nuggets.
He thought they were cake balls and was reaching his hand out to grab one while asking what sort of cake they were.
“STOP!!!” I yelled, “don’t eat those! They are dirt!”
The craziest look came over him. I then explained and we both just giggled, but oh how we would NOT have been laughing had he got a mouthful of those. Well, I would have laughed… and laughed. And I am actually giggling right now writing this.
Anyways, try DIY Seed Balls out with your family.
Maybe take some pictures when your eco-friendly works of art start to appear this summer!
Happy Earth Day!
The Brady Girls – a mother, daughter, and sister team full of passion for food, and cookin’ up great times together! It all started with thousands of recipes from our Gradma Brady that inspired us to share our family traditions, and new creations with all of you.
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So have you tried making these DIY Seed Balls yet?
Leave a comment and share…
i love this idea! i haven’t tried it yet, but it would be cool to get your mixture to a consistency where you could roll it out and use cookie cutters! poke a hole in the top and when it dries it would make a cool embellishment on a gift! (again, i haven’t tried this, it may be too breakable) just a thought, though! i will definitely be doing some flower bom*ing this summer!
Could you use basil or oregano for this? My friend lives in Alaska and loves to cool. Would these work for indoor plants?
Love this idea. Have many gardeners on my list as well. Will be making these for Christmas gifts.
I just made these for my baby shower, I’m giving them away as the shower favor. I couldn’t easily find the air dry red clay so I ended up digging up some clay from my backyard (you dig down far enough and it’s pure clay where I live) I’m pretty sure they will dry alright, the shower’s not for a week. Love this idea!!
Can’t wait to try these and give forchristmas gifts
Love the seed bom* idea! How long can you store them?
Thanks for the post! We saw a bunch on Etsy and wondered how they were made! We will have to make one soon!!!!
I made this this weekend with my 3 year old. I tried to mix them in my Kitchenaid mixer and the clay was too gooey it just stuck to the mixing paddle. It worked better to just use my hands. I used 2.5 lb air dry clay from hobby lobby (it came in a 10 lb box for $8 before 40% off coupon) 1 cup dirt and 1/2 c water so it would dry faster. My church is giving them away on Mother’s Day to all the moms. They are packaged in little treat bags with labels and two shades of ribbon to tie it together.
Love this idea, so creative and such a fun thing to do!
These are so fun! We’re going to attach them to the Teacher Tree printables you posted last week for our end of the year thank you gifts. LOVE THIS BLOG!!!!
“Thank you for helping us grow this year. We’ve made of few extra seeds for you here!”
That’s a great idea, Cindy… I love it!!
~ Heidi