How to make a seed ball
Recipes
for seed
balls vary, but the idea is to mix clay, compost
(sometimes), and seeds to make a globe that has enough structural
integrity that it can be tossed onto the ground without crumbling
apart. The compost is optional, but is a good idea if you're
going to use your seed ball anywhere other than in rich garden soil.
Most internet sources
recommend that you start with storebought,
powdered clay, but I couldn't stomach buying something our farm is made
of, so I just headed down to the creek 
with a shovel. The
downside of using real clay instead of dried clay is that you'll have
to work a bit harder to mix the components, but who doesn't like
playing in the mud?
Seed ball mixtures range
from 5 parts clay and 1 part compost all the
way up to 5 parts clay and 3 parts compost. I chose a 2:1 clay to
compost ratio. To make just a few seed balls, you can do your
mixing by hand in a kitchen bowl, but I chose to whip up my seed ball
dough in a wheelbarrow
using a shovel, a trake, and my hands.
Next, add your seeds. I eyeballed this
step, but the internet
suggests using a third as much volume of seeds as volume of
compost. Mix again until the seeds seem to be well distributed
through the soil mixture.
If you're using dried
clay, you'll have to add water, but if you're
using real clay, the compost/clay mixture will be just the right
consistency automatically. Either way, the goal is be able to
roll out balls that hold together, but that don't turn
your hands too muddy.
Fukuoka pushed his clay
mixture through a screen to make seed
balls, but I didn't have much luck with quarter inch hardware cloth and
instead made balls out of a small handful of material. The size
of your seed ball will
depend on your patience level and on what you're planting. Since
I was working with grains, I figured they wouldn't have too much
trouble coming up with several grains in a clump (a bit like a Native
American corn mound) as long as I spaced the seed balls far enough
apart.
Some folks set their
seed balls out on cookie sheets to air dry, but I didn't find that step
to be necessary. Then it's finally time for the fun
part --- toss your seed balls where you wish!
| This post is part of our Seed Ball lunchtime series.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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