Q.Help to rebuild natural ecosystem. Mix seeds and potting soil together with dry clay. Mould the mixture with water into small balls and allow them to dry in sun. Throw the same at places suitable for germination.

This activity makes 'seed balls': a way of sowing native seeds in degraded land without digging, using the clay coat to protect the seed until the rains come. …

Making the seed balls. Choose seeds of local (native) trees, grasses and shrubs; large or exotic seeds do not suit the method. Mix about one part seed with three parts compost or potting soil and five parts dry clay powder, sprinkle water a little at a time until the mixture holds together, and roll marble- to lemon-sized balls with two or three seeds each. Dry them in the sun (two to three days) so they are hard and do not sprout in storage.

Using them. Scatter or throw the balls onto bare patches, hillsides, roadsides or wasteland just before or during the first monsoon showers, where the soil is not water-logged; no digging or watering is needed.

Why it works. The dry clay is a coat: it keeps ants, rodents and birds from eating the seed, stops it drying out or blowing away, and hides it until the rain softens the ball. When the clay dissolves the seed lies on moist ground surrounded by a little compost, the right conditions for germination, and it grows in place. Dormancy in many wild seeds is broken by exactly this wetting after a dry spell. …