instant seed-bomb garden

If you don't know, seed bombs are used to distribute seeds as a form of guerrilla agriculture.

several years ago, I attended a class on sheet mulching. I've been using that technique ever since.

For several projects, I had to buy a concrete mixer.

So here's the idea...
take a 4'x4' sheet of cardboard (your sheet mulch)
build a frame out of 2x2 square stock
throw some some clay and topsoil (and any other amendment) into the concrete mixer
fill the 4' x 4' square with your mixture
set a piece of lumber on top and weight it down to squeeze out the water and to compress the material
drill a hole every 12" and put a seed in there.

now simply set your instant garden slab anywhere you want and wet it down

your garden slab will act as sheet mulch
your topsoil mix will give your seeds what they need
instant garden - just about anywhere

any thoughts on this???

I think it's pretty clever, not as portable as "seed bombs" but it could be fun to stick those in various places.

It would be cool if they could be made like those neat little soil pods that expand with water. I could see that being used by elderly/movement impaired people. They could pre-seed them conveniently at a comfortable location and then go place them on/in their gardens/where they would like gardens.

If it was 2'x2'x2" it would be pretty light and easy to manipulate or to put on a wagon.

Michael Young wrote:If you don't know, seed bombs are used to distribute seeds as a form of guerrilla agriculture.

several years ago, I attended a class on sheet mulching. I've been using that technique ever since.

For several projects, I had to buy a concrete mixer.

So here's the idea...
take a 4'x4' sheet of cardboard (your sheet mulch)
build a frame out of 2x2 square stock
throw some some clay and topsoil (and any other amendment) into the concrete mixer
fill the 4' x 4' square with your mixture
set a piece of lumber on top and weight it down to squeeze out the water and to compress the material
drill a hole every 12" and put a seed in there.

now simply set your instant garden slab anywhere you want and wet it down

your garden slab will act as sheet mulch
your topsoil mix will give your seeds what they need
instant garden - just about anywhere

any thoughts on this???

Not to be a wet blanket, but this seems like an awful lot of work for 16 plants and really isn't an "instant" garden. If I were you, I would cram every square inch of the soil with seeds of all sorts by simply mixing them in with the soil and clay, etc. while still in the concrete mixer. (More like the way you make actual seed bombs.) Then after you spread it out to dry, you would get some seeds at different levels so a few might not germinate, but a lot of them would, and the resulting garden would be more natural looking. Use plants that form natural associations (companion plants) to confuse insects and help maintain soil nutrients and moisture.

Deb is right. not exactly *instant*



I love Colin's idea. How cool would it be if you could simply roll out a 10' x 4' pre-seeded garden mat; something that would make instant gardening easy for anyone. I know quite a few older folks who would love to garden, but the weed problem and "working the garden" just isn't physically practical for them. Anyone have any idea on how to create and instant garden mat that could be pre-seeded, where all you do is roll it out... and bam. Instant weed control and instant garden all in one swat; something that builds the soil and doesn't require any after-season cleanup.

My 70-year-old mother-in-law should be able to have a garden if she wants one.

For something like a roll-out garden, I could see a weed-barrier cloth that has the little expandable soil pockets sewn/molded in, and pre-seeded. Someone could buy/roll-out their "companion vegetable/herb/fruit" garden, tack it down, and water it...then be good to go!

In theory.

The roll out seed mat is a commercially available product, coming pre-seeded with a few choices along the lines of 'wildflower' or 'vegetable'. It is a good idea, good enough that commercial versions have been around for a few years .

On the do it yourself at home front, I think it might make more sense to do Fukuoka style seed balls. Every bit as easy to put in place and simpler/easier to make in the first place. Working out how to adhere seeds to a length of cloth, weed fabric, whatever, having space to do that, by whatever process; versus mixing seeds, clay, water and a bit of compost and rolling up 'balls'.

On the original idea - if that mixer has wheels, then you run it up with a batch of your 'planting mix' with enough water to make a milkshake like slurry, add a bunch of seeds and pour it out on the ground as you pull the mixer along. Lay a snail trail of whatever you are wanting to grow!

I like Peter's idea. I don't know that I would want to try "snail trail" with my raised bed gardens.

But I'm thinking that idea could be GOLD when it comes to my three giant hugelkulture mounds that have never really done much.

I love it. I'm going to make a big slopping slurry for those hugel mounds