Seed bombing

Yay! I'm going to be on Redi Direko's show on 702 tomorrow morning to do the Green Tip, about Seed Bombing. I first read about seed bombing on a website - a random find my mom pointed me to - and it immediately caught my attention.

Now that my lovely daisies are going to seed, I'm harvesting them (and tons more from the flowerbed outside a local park!) to make seed bombs for next season.

What, you're asking, is seed bombing?

It's all about beautifying vacant spaces, shabby pavements, 'bald spots' in parks, neglected neighbourhood flowerbeds, empty plant pots and bare roadside verges in URBAN areas with pretty flowers.

A seed bomb is a method of delivering seeds; it's a compressed ball of soil and compost, impregnated with flower seeds and it can be tossed anywhere. Seed bombing is a bit like guerilla gardening, without the committment to maintaining the garden later.

To make a seed bomb:

• Mix clay soil (soil with a decent clay content packs together and hardens when dry) with compost - recommended ratio of 5:2, but it doesn't matter much. You can supplement soil plus compost with red (terracota) clay powder (from a pottery store) to bind the 'bomb' if your local soil isn't binding well.
• Add water, slowly, as you stir, to get a firm mud-pie consistency (not sloppy!)
• coop up enough of this mix to mould a small ball
• Press in a couple of flower seeds. Some seed bomb recipes suggest adding seeds to your mix - one part seeds to 5 parts clay soil and 2 parts compost - I prefer to know how many seeds are going into each bomb.
• Shape into a ball, rolling it between your hands until compact and rounded with a smooth (not cracked) outer surface. This will protect the seed bomb from predators (ants, other insects, mice and birds).

• Place on newspaper and leave to air dry (about two days)
• Store in a cool, dry place until you're ready to throw them

On your next run or walk, pack some in a pouch - toss your seed bombs into nearby vacant lot, wait a few weeks for the flowers ;) Tossing is a form of 'unobtrusive deployment' that can be done surreptitiously in broad daylight.

When to toss your seed bombs? Although tossing them just before a rainy period is good, it isn't necessary, as the seeds will stay dry, protected in the ball and ungerminated until it rains. Seeds readily germinate following the first rain. At least some of the seeds in each ball will germinate. Success is really dependant on what happens after germination... like, is there consistent rain, so that the seedlings don’t wilt and die?

Remember to select flower seeds appropriate for the sowing season and region. Drought-tolerant plants are winners. Visit your local nursery to see what seeds are available. Check seed packets for correct sowing seasons and sun requirements (full sun, semi-sun, shade). Daisy, sunflower, cosmos, poppy and nasturtium seeds as well as wildflower mixes are popular in seed bombs.

Select seeds that do not need to be dug 30cm into the ground. Seeds that can be sown in situ (scattered on the ground surface) are best.

Avoid invasive plants and don't throw seed bombs in or near natural areas. Seed bombs are for URBAN areas.

Soil and compost give the seeds a little nourishing 'home' to get started. Rain will get things going, breaking the seed bomb apart.

If you are covering a large area, disperse them about two seed bombs per square metre. In smaller areas, group 5 or 6 seed bombs to get a more lush look. At the end of the first growing season, birds and other creatures will disperse the seeds from the first year flowers elsewhere, and the growing cycle will begin again.

Seeds generally take 85-120 days to flowering - that's 3-4 months - so it will be a while before you can appreciate your handiwork.

Where to get lots of seeds? In early April I planted daisy seeds that I bought from a local nursery (R50 per packet!). I'm now harvesting the seeds, from my own garden and also from community pavement gardens (like outside Rhodes Park). I'm going to be using these seeds - an abundance of them! - to make my seed bombs for March/April next year. Daisies are currently going to seed, so make the best of them to make next winter even brighter with more and more and more daisies in Jo'burg.

Making seed bombs (and dispersing them!) is a great activity to do with children.

As my daisy seed bombs will only be good for March/April next year, I'm going to buy cosmos and sunflower seeds from a nursery to make seed bombs for now, that will flower for December. 'Cos I can.

* Content on seed bombs, recipe and images collected, edited and compiled from goodness-knows-how-many websites. Thanks to the authors.

Green feet are happy feet

My dear friend, Michael, came out to SA just over a week ago. He has been working in the US for the past few months. Taking advantage of his time in the US, I asked Michael to bring a pair of the new Bikila model of the Vibram FiveFingers.

Barefoot running has been an 'in' thing for the last year or so, made popular by Chris McDougall's book, 'Born to Run'.

Two years ago, when I was still Gear Editor for Runner's World SA magazine, I received a pair of Vibrams (Sprint model) from the local agent. I'd only worn them a few times when my house was broken into and they were swiped, along with all my trail and road shoes! I've wanted a pair since.

My 'green feet' arrived on Thursday and I've spent some time walking around in them over the past few days, the first stage in my acclimatisation. This afternoon I'm going to give them a short run, on grass. It is advised that you slowly get into them, gradually increasing distance and introducing different terrain.

I've been running in my Salomon Slabs since the beginning of the year and I think that what I have enjoyed most about them is their 'unintrusive' structure. They're kind of like the 'racing flats' of trail running. It took a while to adjust to them on rocky highveld terrain, which they're really not made for (they would be great on smooth US and European trails). I have to take extra care with my foot placements to avoid clipping rocks, because the shoe offers little protection. But it works for me and my feet enjoy them. Highveld terrain does tend to eat them up. Fivefingers are the next step and I'm looking forward to this journey.

Selecting Team AR for Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge

Last week I finally chose the three people, from our squad of five, for Team http://www.ar.co.za/ for the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge (ADAC) in December.

This is the third year that http://www.ar.co.za/ has received an entry (incl flights) for this superb six-day adventure race. It really is a race of sun, sea and sand - lots and lots of sand.

In previous years (2008 and 2009) I have chosen the team outright from the written applications. But this year, because I received such early notification of our entry, I selected a squad of people - four women and two men - in early June. We 'lost' Ilze Jansen van Rensburg early on when an emergency eye operation took her out of racing and training for weeks.

It was definitely much harder this time to settle on a combination. It is really difficult to choose only three from five super people - all of whom are prime candidates. And, just looking at the three girls, two of them were in the winning pair and team at Swazi Xtreme!

After weeks of deliberation I settled on Adri van der Westhuzyen, Lizelle Smit and Steven Erasmus. Lizelle van der Merwe and Keane Ludick are our reserves and they will remain involved with paddle training and other team activities. It is very reassuring to know that we've got them with us in case something happens to one of us in the lead up to the events.

We've got company
For the first time, Team http://www.ar.co.za/ will have Souff Afrikan company in Abu Dhabi - that is, aside from our trusty South African supporters (Mark Joyce and his friends who always come out to find us on the course and to cheer for us).

Team Cyanosis (Nicholas Mulder, Clinton Mackintosh and Ryno Griesel - female still to be confirmed) and Hard Day's Night (Alex Pope, Jane Swarbreck, Tim Deane and Alan Neate) will also take on the sea and desert. Wooohooo! What a p.a.r.t.y!

Difficulty of ADAC
As I hadn't done a non-stop multiday adventure race for ages, I haven't had a direct comparison between ADAC and something like Swazi Xtreme. I can now say that despite the sleeping and unbelievable catering, ADAC is physically more demanding than a classic 350km non-stop race. At ADAC each day's stages are longer, faster and tougher.

I hadn't really thought about it too much until I asked Alex Pope, who raced with me at ADAC, how his blood sugar was at Swazi (Alex is diabetic). He said that it was actually quite high, which was in contrast to ADAC where it was often on the lower end of the scale, because of the high output. A nice physiological indicator of the pace at ADAC.

Training
For now, our training focus is on paddling and foot - running. The race is being held in 'reverse' where, except for the prologue, we do the disciplines backwards. So, where the canyoneering was on the last day, it will now be on the first, followed by MTB, then desert trekking and then paddle. MTB is the one that is the least of my worries... it is on foot and in the boats where the crunch really comes.

In the previous years I've found gaps in our preparation in these areas. I hope to plug them for a better result. If we can maintain a midfield placing on the paddle and get three of the four optional CPs on the trekking stage, I'll be over the moon!

So, for now it is onward, with our sights firmly set on the race in early December.

Fighting bugs

I'm fighting some kind of bug. Had a cold going into Swazi Xtreme and a day after the race was down with full-blown flu. Took two weeks to shake coughing and lots of nose blowing and now it feels like I'm battling against something else.

Since the beginning of the month I've been working at a client's offices on a new contract. Lotsa bugs around there at the moment - not great for an immuno-compromised adventure racer.

Yesterday (Monday), driving to work, I felt like a zombie, even after a full night's sleep. Got home late afternoon and had a nap. Then slept from 11pm  to 7.30am. Drove to work feeling really sleepy again. At work I was chatting to the bunch and saying I was feeling helluva sleepy, when I shouldn't be, and that I thought I'd been having night sweats for last couple of nights. The one girl says she's had the same thing - drenched at night and also helluva sleepy this morning.


The bugs we've had in the office in the past week (only 6 or 7 of us there most of the time; another two come and go) include one guy down with meningitis and another guy off work with glandular fever (with full on rash too; he got it from his wife, who also works with us - she had it the previous week).

I ducked early again today, had a nap and now I'm ready to sleep again. No swollen glands or other symptoms, just feeling pooped.

Looks like I'll be paying my doc another visit... And all I wanna do is go running. But, for now it's back to bed for another good sleep.