Thursday 19 April 2012

Flower Bombs - Guerrilla Gardening


For the last couple of years the kids and I have been doing a bit of guerrilla gardening around our village.  On the first year we planted sunflowers in random places - this wasn't very successful as we had a very dry Spring so most of the sunflowers didn't survive.  Last year we pop seeds around with variable success.  This year I came across the idea of flower bombs via a blog (sorry I can't remember the blog name :-() and had to give it a go :-)


 I had a rummage in the children's art cupboard for any old paper that wasn't very useful ....


I popped it into a blender with some water and blended it up.  My Mum popped over to visit at this point and did look slightly concerned that little Sweetpeas wakings were finally getting to me until I explained what I was doing :-)


We squeezed the wet paper out so it was damp rather than soaking and then mixed the seeds in (a mixture of seeds I collected from our flowers last year).  We then made them into little balls and left them to dry naturally overnight.  They did fall apart slightly so I may try making the compost and clay version next year.


 We then went for a walk round the village .....


and flower bombed random areas :-)  I will be going round with the children and planting cosmos in random places in a month or two, these plants seem perfectly happy if not watered and look so lovely.  I hope the bombs work and we see flowers popping up around the village :-)

We will plant these later in the year.

Also last week we were very excited to receive our caterpillar delivery for the pre-school.  We love watching them grow each year and turning into butterflies.


On the chick front, I am afraid to say that poor Bubbles at the front of the photo passed away :-(  Bubbles hadn't been too well for some time and I am glad he/she went of their own accord rather than Mr Sweetpea having to put him/her out of their misery.  Tiny is doing very well and is still happily chirping away thank goodness.

xxx

18 comments:

  1. Hi Zoe
    Sorry about Bubbles, Mother Natures way but still sad. Glad Tiny is still chirping away.
    It will be great to go back round the village and see the bombs in bloom! I love Cosmos, it just keeps flowering and flowering, a favourite of me and my Mums!
    Have a great weekend,where does the time go!!!
    Andrea x

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  2. Aw, Zoe! Poor Bubbles. Gorgeous photos. Xxx

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  3. This is such a lovely idea, I love it. I know it would make me smile if I were to spot little things like this around. The only trouble is we live in a very built up area so there isn't really anywhere that we would be able to do this :( x x x x

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  4. We bombed our backyard- it was so much fun! We are waiting for little sprouts any day now!!

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  5. Poor Bubbles, RIP.
    I love the flower bomb idea. I am going to plant seeds round the trees down our road. Thank you for giving me the idea!!!
    Ax

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  6. Sad news about bubbles x

    We like a bit of seed bombing - a clay mix soil works wonderfully, great for reclaiming urban wastelands and throwing over fences and hoardings. Not just flowers either ;-)
    The idea originates from Masanoba Fukuoka who was a great man and wrote a fabulous book about permaculture.

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  7. Oh that is so sad poor bubbles our little chick Patrick also is no longer with us, I chickened our (excuse the pun) and told the kids he flew away! We had 3 chicks hatch yesterday and 4 foals as well,
    spring is great!Love the flower bomb idea.

    Have a lovely weekend

    Denise

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  8. Poor Bubbles, at least he/she isn't suffering, that's what I always tell myself. It will be fun to see your seed bombs bursting in to life all around the village.

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  9. Love the idea of seed bombing. I have lots of flower seeds from last year that would be perfect. Sorry to hear about Bubbles. Good that he passed quietly. I leave dispatching to my husband too.

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  10. poor Bubbles:( I love the idea of flower bombing.
    Twiggy x

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  11. Such a lovely idea, we should all do this and bring back wild flowers everywhere! Sorry about little bubbles. Catherine x

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  12. That would be so much fun...making and placing the flower bombs! I bet your children will remember that all their lives, and maybe even do it with their own children. How fun!!!!
    I love those sweet little chick too.
    Have a wonderful weekend sweet friend.
    sending hugs...

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  13. aw, poor bubbles! and great photos...fee x

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  14. I LOVE the flower bombs you've made. What a great idea and definitely something I'd like to do! Thanks for your comments on my blog too. I read the bit about 'going light' and it was very interesting. I had been worrying a bit because I'd scattered a few suet pellets on the ground for the wild birds and the chickens had eaten a few (in fact, the chickens loved them!) and that was about the time when the troubles started. I have stopped giving them access to these now. They are currently fed on Smallholder Ex-batt crumbs or sometimes layers mash if I can't get hold of any crumbs and we give them chickweed and lettuce scraps. The grit is something that I need to do though. I have bought it in the past, but the pieces seemed so large, so I've always ground it up a bit with a pestle and morter first and the chickens have pecked a bit at it, thought mostly it gets scattered into the floor and lost. I will get some more though after reading the article. The chooks are currently on antibiotics which DH and I have to squirt into their beaks twice a day for a week!! I am going round stinking of chicken poo - I won't have any friends left by the end of the week!! Thanks for your comments, they were really helpful! xxxxx

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  15. Sorry the little bird didn't make it. I like your flower bomb idea - I would like to do that with some wildflowers into the woods.

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  16. I am all for guerrilla gardening, learned to make some green seed bombs a few years ago when I worked in the environment sector. Need to get my hands dirty again and make some with the nephews and nieces.
    http://allotment2kitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/guerrilla-gardeners-and-green-seed.html

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  17. This is a fabulous idea! I still have to plant up our cut flower beds this year, I've not even weeded them yet, but I love the idea of doing some guerrilla gardening with the boys. Beth (the linen cat)x

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  18. Hi there! This is a quick comment just to let you know I have sent you an email following your kind comment and question on my blog.

    Warmest wishes,

    Stephanie

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Thank you for spending the time leaving a comment, it really does make me smile :-)