Saturday, June 25, 2011

Guerrilla Gardening

It all started with making seed balls. Wildflower mix, daisies, marigolds, then okra. Later, sun flowers. The process is fairly simple, like making bread, there are few ingredients, but infinite possibilities, variations, and you have to develop a feel for technique and proportions. We started with seed, and added clay and water. Clay needed to be dried, and ground into a powder (it formed more uniform over the small seeds that way). Just spray water, and mix, tumble, or form the little seed balls.






After the balls are formed, let them dry before putting them away in a labeled container (if they are not dry, they will grow mold, and sprout in the container). We also discovered that everyone has their own method of making seed balls, so as far as I know, there is no correct way until you try a few things and figure out what works best for your purposes, with your clay, in your climate, etc.





Voila! Now its time to make the city we live in even more beautiful. I'd like to say that throwing seed balls around is the best part, but I can't. The whole process is the best part, from getting everyone together, gathering materials, making the balls, to watching them grow.


Okra in the city. Unfortunately, not much progress yet. Shhhh. Sunflower seedlings by the White House. (They have since been removed by the grounds crew.)






Next post is about making raised beds with this little helper.