The goal is to create a small ball with clay to help the seeds germinate.

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The seed balls

  • Mathieu Duboy, a Girondin, tries to bring up to date a sowing technique dating back to Antiquity: seed balls.

  • A simple, fun and organic technique with only clay to promote the germination of plants, especially in hostile environments.

  • The goal is to preserve biodiversity through planting plants for insects like bees.

It is a technique almost as old as the world.

A heritage from ancient Egypt.

However, it remains unrecognized.

And above all, very little used by the general public.

This is the technique of seed balls.

Some may remember hearing about it when they were very young when they discovered germination in CP / CE1.

With this bean that the teachers made their young pupils plant.

Mathieu Duboy is much taller.

But this 33-year-old web developer continues to plant his "Seed Balls" or rather recovered to it two years ago.

Since then, the Girondin located in La-Teste-de-Buch has sought to bring this technique up to date with the objective of "preserving biodiversity in a simple and fun way".

Website, online store, crowdfunding pot… His small business has grown to the point of having received nearly 3,000 orders in recent months.

On the occasion of the launch this Monday of his operation "Vegetalize your kilometer" (see box) on the model "Clean your kilometer", he presents his project.

Where does this sowing technique come from?

From afar.

From far away.

According to specialists, it dates back to Antiquity: "It was the Egyptians who used it most often because of the lack of water," explains Mathieu Duboy, "they used clay to protect the seeds from arid conditions and to absorb the little water as soon as there is any.

The clay also protected them from predators so that they would eventually sprout and grow.

This coating makes it possible to optimize the germination of the seed.

Mathieu Duboy with his seed balls in his hands.

- The seed balls

This technique, which has gradually fallen into oblivion, has come back to the fore thanks to a famous Japanese farmer, Masanobu Fukuoka.

He used it during World War II to increase food production in his country and then in the 1970s in Africa to help people grow crops in often difficult conditions.

How to make your own seed balls?

"Already, you have to know that anyone can do it and it is especially interesting to do it with your children", recalls the thirty-something from the Arcachon Basin.

All you need is seeds and clay: “You can also use potting soil or natural repellents such as chilli or pepper, but it is not compulsory.

You have to soak the seeds, pour clay (natural or powder) which sticks to it, wet again and put more in to create a small ball in the end.

Then you have to let it dry and then you can use it whenever you want.

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Natural repellents help to repel birds, for example.

Mathieu Duboy plants and sells exclusively for the moment honey flowers which produce a quantity of nectar and pollen for the bees.

But this technique works with all types of seeds.

What are the benefits?

It is above all about preserving biodiversity.

“No need for fertilizer or anything else, you could even say it's a technique for lazy people,” laughs the Web developer.

The objective is to put it everywhere to allow insects in particular to develop with these plants.

Mathieu Duboy offers four ranges, for birds, ladybugs, bees and butterflies.

He sells his bags of 20-25 bales of seeds for around seven euros.

For the record, he recalls that this technique of seed balls, also called "Seed Balls", was also in the 1970s a political symbol: "The anti-capitalists threw them and planted at the foot of each new building built in certain cities for express their anger and show their resistance ”.

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"Vegetalize your kilometer"

The ecological challenge "Clean up your kilometer" makes children.

On the same principle, Mathieu Duboy decided to launch the operation “Vegetalize your kilometer” on Monday.

The principle is simple: You just need to bring a few seeds, a bottle of water and take advantage of your daily time out to flower your neighborhood, its street, its facade, and take care of it every day until at the end of confinement.

“I want to encourage people to flower their homes as much as they can, in the city, in the countryside… whatever.

We all need flowers, pollinators too and especially in these unhappy times, it gives balm to the heart, ”says Girondin.

  • Aquitaine

  • Bordeaux

  • Planet

  • Arcachon

  • Biodiversity

  • Organic agriculture