Submitted by Abir Bachir, Facilitator & Co-Creator at Make Mindfully
I am going to be facilitating the Neighbour Night activity this month to show participants how to make pollinator-friendly seed bombs on Thursday May 18th - Neighbour Night
The event runs from 5:30pm-7:30pm
Children welcome to attend with their caregivers
Simple vegetarian supper included
Facilitated by Abir of Make Mindfully
Please RSVP to ensure enough food and supplies (RSVP can be done with HSCA by emailing Shaye.r@hsca.ca or with Make Mindfully by clicking 'going' on our event page
Participants will get a chance to make seed bombs with the provided supplies.
About Seed Bombs
These hardy pollinator-friendly wildflower "bombs" can be thrown into personal gardens and greenspaces after the last frost.
Seed Bombs are nutrient-packed balls of soil and nutrients, with seeds in the centre.
With regular water and sun, and moderate temperatures, the flower seeds in these balls sprout to produce different flowers for pollinators to enjoy over 8 to 12 weeks.
After making them and letting them cure for 48 hours inside, you can plant, place, or throw your seed bombs outside after the last frost.
As long as the seed bombs receive water regularly, the water will reach the seeds in the middle and the seeds will have lots of nutrients to grow.
It might be better to place your first seed bomb somewhere where you can monitor it and attend to it.
The cement and soil mix protects the seeds from being eaten by insects and animals. The key to making them work is putting them in a place where they will get water, sun, some shade, and soft soil underneath for the roots to grow into.
Seed bombs can help to repopulate gardens as they reproduce, and their flowers give pollinators food and a place to rest as they spread the flower pollen to produce more flowers along their travels.
The Neighbour Night activity kits will contain nutrients for plants, soil, compost, worm castings, cement powder, and a mix of flower seeds for pollinators that require 1 – 10 weeks to grow.
We will add water to our mix of soil, compost, and cement to turn it into a "patty". Then we will sprinkle seeds in the middle and form a ball.
Chat with a neighbour for 30 minutes as your seed bomb sets, then give it 48 hours to "cure" before taking outside.
It is important to ensure that we are helping our environment and not harming our local ecosystem by buying seeds locally and checking the list of invasive plant species specific to our province before planting! Visit the Alberta Invasive Species Council’s Invasive Plant page to learn more!
RSVP and join us on the 18th!