Ōwairaka District School children enjoyed getting stuck into the mud to create seed bombs for the neighbourhood at a recent school gardening workshop.

About 30 students from years 3 and 4 came to the Ōwairaka Development community garden on Hendon Ave to learn to make seed bombs in a workshop led by Trudy, the local Garden to Table coordinator. Students mixed clay, soil and seeds into small balls, and learned about becoming kaitiaki (guardians) of their environment and creating beautiful spaces. 

Ōwairaka District School is a highly-accredited Enviroschool with a focus on integrating environmental education into school life and learning opportunities. The children enjoyed engaging with the pop-up garden space and were justifiably proud of their hard work – dozens of seed balls that will now be left to dry and later used to regenerate areas of disused land with wildflowers and other plants to attract bees and butterflies.

The pop-up community kai garden and nursery was developed by HLC as a place where Ōwairaka locals can gather to grow fruit and vegetables for the community, as well as learning more about gardening techniques and sustainability initiatives. Upcoming workshops include organic gardening, rat trapping and making pallet furniture for the garden – check out the news section of the Ōwairaka Development website for the workshop dates.

If you’d like to make your own seed bombs, check out this great instruction sheet from For the Love of Bees - https://www.fortheloveofbees.co.nz/s/seedball-howto.pdf