guerrilla gardening
Guerrilla Gardening and seedboms
We weren’t the first to come up with the idea of seedboms. Seed bombs were originally named seed balls, an ancient way to sow crops in dense vegetation and difficult to reach land using crop seeds, clay and sometimes manure formed into small balls. They were reintroduced within the last century by the Japanese soil scientist and organic farmer Masanobu Fukuoka who used seed balls or Tsuchi Dango (Earth Dumplings) as part of his method called ‘natural farming’.
“If we throw Mother Nature out the window, she comes back in the door with a pitchfork.” Masanobu Fukuoka
A seed bomb is traditionally a compressed ball of soil containing seeds that can be put onto a terrain to be grown. The term “seed grenade” aka the seedbom was first used by Liz Christy in 1973 when she started the “Green Guerillas” in the USA. The first seed grenades made from balloons and old Christmas baubles were tossed over fences onto empty lots in New York City in order to make the neighborhoods look better. This was the start of the Guerrilla Gardening movement.
Guerrilla Gardening is now practiced by a huge number of groups, organisations and individuals all over the world. Guerrilla Gardening is essentially gardening without permission, taking over abandoned land. Guerrilla Gardeners grow plants and make a difference to their area, bringing it to life and adding splashes of colour.
Guerrilla Gardener extraordinaire Richard Reynolds, started guerrilla gardening outside his council block in London’s Elephant & Castle. Now he runs the most visited and comprehensive Guerrilla Gardening website in the world – www.guerrillagardening.org.uk as well as writing a book on the subject (see bottom of page to purchase from Amazon).
Even more Guerrilla Gardening Videos
Not just an nice way to sell seedboms!
At kabloom we take are involved in guerrilla gardening as an active member of Glasgow Guerrilla Gardening / Click link to find out more, and if you are based in Glasgow why not join us for a dig sometime!
Glasgow Guerrilla Gardening
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International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day – May 1st 2010
