Grow Your Own Easter Basket Grass
Last Easter my parents kindly gifted me two bags of shiny purple and orange plastic Easter basket grass. It took me six months to clear that crap out of my house. Seriously, it was in the air ducts. Never again.
I was determined to go a more natural route this year and grow our own Easter basket grass. I remember friends’ tables beautifully decorated with wheatgrass Easter grass during my own childhood and how much I loved to run my hand over the top of the grass and find little chocolate eggs hiding in the displays!
While I hadn’t attempted growing my own Easter basket grass before, a little research confirmed that wheatgrass seeds (also known as cat grass) are surprisingly easy to grow. In fact, it only takes 3-4 days for the seeds to start sprouting! I was very excited to bring the feeling of spring and Easter into our home with something my girls could watch come to life.
To prepare for this craft, I headed to my local Dollar Tree to buy the colorful woven Easter baskets and I lined them with weed blocker. Then I filled a home depot bucket with garden soil that my kids could pull from. My neighbor and I made a morning out of this activity, letting the kids fill their Easter baskets with dirt and sprinkle the wheatgrass seeds on top.
It was a perfect muddy mess, but we were prepared with lots of shovels and a plastic table cloth for easy clean-up. We placed old pie tins under the baskets to catch any water. Once the kids had prepared their baskets, we covered the baskets with plastic wrap and found a sunny spot in our homes to let them sit until the seeds sprouted.
I gave my girls a plastic spray bottle to water the seeds each morning and we’ve been singing Song of the Seed (a vintage book from my parents) to learn about how seeds grow. My four-year-old was overjoyed to discover that her plants had popped out of the seeds on the fourth morning after planting. She sang to them and petted the little sprouts.
Full disclosure…if you have a cat in the home, he will love the Easter Grass, too! It is also called Cat Grass after all. My cat couldn’t help making a cameo during one of the photoshoots for this project.
The wheatgrass has now reached about six inches tall and I’ve added felted Easter eggs to them for pops of color. I’m sure the Easter Bunny won’t be able to resist them on Easter morning. The baskets live on our dining room table to bring the joy of spring to our family meals. Once the wheatgrass gets tall enough I plan on giving them a haircut and adding the clippings to my smoothies. Wheatgrass can be a great source of vitamins for those who can tolerate it.
Below are steps for growing your own Easter Basket Grass to decorate your spring table. If you decide to try this Easter craft, tag @motherhoodinthemud in your photos on Instagram. I’d love to see how you decorate your baskets.
Happy Spring!
Supplies
- Bamboo Woven Easter Baskets
- Weedblocker
- Pie tin
- Wheatgrass seeds
- Dirt
- Plastic wrap
Instructions
- Line your baskets with weed blocker. I cut a large square double the circumference of the basket and used a stapler to attach the weed blocker to the interior of the baskets. Then I trimmed the weed blocker so that it was in line with the edge of the baskets.
Alternatively, I have seen this project completed using a pie tin or plant saucer directly inserted into the basket. This would save on the amount of dirt you need to use, but you may want to poke holes in the bottom so that the dirt can breathe. - Fill the baskets with dirt (better yet – let your kids do it!) We filled our baskets about 3/4 of the way full.
- Add a layer of wheatgrass seeds to the top of your dirt and then cover with a thin layer of dirt. Water and cover the basket with plastic wrap until you see seeds begin to sprout.
- Water daily. We prefer misting with a spray bottle.
- Watch your wheatgrass grow! Give it a haircut as needed.
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