some advice on seed bombs for guerilla gardening

[PeggyGuggenheim]

So I've watched loads of good YouTube videos (especially one from the Guardian with a nice curly-head man) and I totally get what you're meant to do.... But I couldn't find the powdery Clay anywhere. So I've got a big cube of grey clay from Hobbycraft, in transparent plastic wrapper, sort of squishable when you poke it. It says to fire it in a kiln but obviously I won't be doing that. Question is - will it be OK to make a dry mixture of wildflower seeds and compost and then just roll the little damp clay balls in that mixture? Not really sure how to blend the compost with the clay properly, which would obviously be so much easier if the clay was powdered! Feeling a bit worried as I'm leading a seed bomb workshop this week and full of questions. Any experience/advice very GRATEFULLY received! Obviously I will experiment before hand but anybody got any pointers ? Thank you :)

No idea about consistency of 'bombs' but quite excited to hear you're guerrilla gardening, it's an area I've got an interest in and I think more people should get involved

I thuought the seeds and stuff need to be on the inside - kind of like a grenade. I'd thinking of making a kind of ball of clay then poke a hole in the middle and fill with seeds and compost - it would need to be thin clay so water could get in and get the whole lot growing. I'm sure I've seen something similar with egg boxes as the cardboard softens up nicely. Will hunt out for some links - seed bomb workshop sounds fab - where does cool stuff like that happen?

so it looks as if the powdered clay versions are a mix of soil, seeds, clay powder and water. Could you carefully mix the wet clay, some soil and some seeds into a kind of playdough type mixture and then form it into balls? you'd have to be gentle so as not to bash up the seeds but that seems most true to the seedball ideas here
Thanks, I think I might do this with the dd's this weekend, I have some powdered red clay I bought from ebay intending to make face masks or something but never got round to it.

I thought that you could use papier mâché instead?

ok, my last post now or I will look like I'm stalking. There's a link that says if using pre-mixed clay, roll it out flat then gentle press in the seeds and soils. Break off a little chunk and gently roll into balls. Makes sense as that means much less chance of the seeds getting squished. here

Thank you all so much! I will get a wire cutter thingy to slice slabs and then sprinkle the seeds etc on. Doing it at Friends of the Earth local meeting, I'm guessing some attendees will have done it so we can help each other. Thanks again you guys x

Just reporting back : we sliced the clay with wire (into "pages" kind of thing) and then sprinkled quite thickly with a mixture of seeds & compost and then broke small chunks off and formed into little balls, the seeds and compost mixed thoroughly through the clay . Time will tell (on our derelict urban spaces) whether it actually worked!

sounds really cool, look forward to an update in spring!