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How to Make a Flower Bomb
Embrace your inner-guerrilla gardener
© Peter Nijenhuis CC
If you’ve got a couple of hours free this weekend, and don’t mind getting your hands a little dirty, here’s a fun project to try. Flower bombs are a mix of native plant seeds, some plant food, and some clay. It’s important that you always use native seeds. Start with a list of plants native to your ZIP code at audubon.org/plantsforbirds
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BirdNote®
How to Make a Flower Bomb
Written by Jason Saul
[theme music]
[backyard spring dawn chorus]
This is BirdNote.
If you’ve got a couple of hours free this weekend, and don’t mind getting your hands a little dirty, here’s a fun project to try. Embrace your inner-guerrilla gardener and mix yourself up some flower bombs.
Flower bombs are a mix of native plant seeds, some plant food, and some clay.
Then, while you’re out walking around, just [make throwing motion while saying it] toss one of these suckers over the fence into an abandoned property, a median strip by a freeway, or an overgrown parking lot…
Flower bombs are real easy to make.
First, mix together equal parts red powdered clay and compost. Then, sprinkle in some local plant seeds and some fertilizer if you’ve got it. Add jusssst enough water to dampen everything, not too much, and then roll your bombs up into little balls, just a little bigger than golf balls. Set them out to dry for a couple days, and they’ll be ready for action!
[tweet]
It’s important that you only use seeds from plants native to your area. Native plants are the best plants for your native birds. You can start with a list of plants found in your ZIP code at Audubon Dot Org Slash Plants for Birds
Annnd just one final note - always respect other people’s private property rights and don’t throw flower bombs where you’re not supposed to.
For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
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Producer: John Kessler
Managing Producer: Jason Saul
Editor: Ashley Ahearn
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Assistant Producer: Mark Bramhill
Narrator: Michael Stein
BirdNote’s theme composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2019 BirdNote May 2019
ID# flowerbomb-01-2019-05-29 flowerbomb-01
https://ideastations.org/science-matters/green-kids/seed-bombs
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/apr/11/seed-bombs-der…
https://www.audubon.org/plantsforbirds
Jason Saul
Writer