I needed some cheap spring decor for our church Easter party.  We wanted to spend our limited budget on the food and the egg hunt!  Decor wasn’t that important, but we didn’t want empty tables or anything.

Then I remembered my friend Katie’s Easter party and how she had Easter baskets full of spring grass on the tables.  So I consulted her expertise, and she assured me it was so easy to grow wheatgrass.

Yep, you can grow pretty grass from regular old red wheat.  So I busted open a good old #10 can I had of it.  I haven’t been grinding it to make nutritious home baked wheat bread lately.  *Don’t hate me because I love white flour*

I watched about 10 YouTube tutorials on this and they all told my this is a “no fail” project.
Well, leave it to my dead, brown thumb to fail at this project.  My first trial run was a failure.  I’m pretty sure I overwatered because it got moldy.  And smelly.  I almost gave up.

But I gave it one more try, and this time it was now or never.  You need to start 2 weeks before you need it.  I’m happy to report I was, for the most part, successful.  This is what I did, the second time:

1.  Soak the seeds, in water for 12 hours prior to planting.
2.  Put 2-3 inches of dirt in the container.
3.  Spread a layer of seeds (covering the the entire thing, but not layering).
4.  Sprinkle a thin layer of dirt over the seeds.
5.  Water, just enough for the dirt to stay moist.
6.  I continued to water it with a spray bottle twice a day, to keep it moist.
7.  By day 4, you should see lots of sprouts.  By day 7 it is about 1-1.5″ grass.  By day 12 it is how it looks in this picture.  My good friend watered the wheatgrass for the last few days while I went on vacation.  I was worried when I left, but was amazed when I got back and saw it!

I grew some in these plastic tray liners and we put them in some Easter baskets I had spray painted.  I also collected soup cans and spray painted them pastel colors.  The only thing I actually bought were the plastic liners and 2 cans of spray paint.  I had the wheat, dirt, some paint,ribbon, and the baskets were donated.

I originally did about 35 cans of grass to cluster on the tables, but I did have a few that didn’t end up growing as full and I left them out.  (What gives?… I thought I treated them all the same…) We still had plenty.  Oh well.

I was too busy to take pictures during the party, but I brought some home to keep for the next week or so.  I wish I could report that I am now juicing it, and drinking the supplement daily, but I’m just using it to decorate my house.

Amidst all of this grass drama, came my favorite part of this story:
I originally thought I was copying my friend Katie (who I’ve known since 2nd grade), but when I asked her for more details on how to grow it, she said, “Let me check with my mom, she helped me with it and she might remember more.”  When she called me back, she told me that her mom had originally gotten this idea from my mom, years and years ago.  Apparently Katie had spent the night at my house and my mom planted baskets of grass with Katie and I.  We didn’t remember this, but Katie’s mom did.  I can’t tell you how heartwarming it was to know that I was recycling one of my mom’s old ideas.  I often wish I remembered and gleaned more from her creative talents, especially in the gardening department.  But even though she is gone, her ideas and creativity are still being shared.  I love that!

Thanks for the inspiration, Katie, Kay, and Mom!

I’m linking to Today’s Creative Blog!