Easter Grass in a Basket

How to grow Easter Grass and Wheatgrass in a Basket on MADE Everyday with Dana Willard

Get your Wheatberry (seeds) HERE.
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I feel dumb saying this….but it is SO gratifying to plant something and watch it grow.
It’s amazing! Every time.  Kind of like sewing.
I find myself smiling and cheering—“it worked”!  As if I doubted Mother Nature.

And dude.  Easter Grass (wheatgrass) is like a super plant.  It is literally growing before your eyes.  And one of these days I’ll put a time-lapse camera on it (if I knew how to do that.  Oh yea, that’s why I haven’t done it.)

I’ve shown you how to grow decorative Wheatgrass before in this video with my friend Katherine.  It was so fun to make them as placeholder/name cards for a dinner party:
(Just hit the play button to watch):

But with Easter almost here, I wanted to show you how to plant grass in a basket or other container that might have holes.
Because ahhhh! Large gold-woven Easter basket from Target?  YES.

This is the perfect project to do with your kids; they will be just as amazed as you.
And I especially love these little water droplets that form on the ends of the grass blades—all on their own.  Cool!

Okay. Here’s what you do:
• Use wax paper to create a slight barrier in your container, to keep dirt from falling out.  I cut two large pieces, then overlapped and taped them together.
• Push the wax paper into the basket so that it molds to the inside of the basket.  Then trim off the excess sticking outside the rim.   Some of the paper will fold and overlap itself on the inside.  You can tape these folds down, or just leave them; soon they will be filled with soil.
• Place a large amount of soil in a bowl and get it wet in the sink.   Stir it around (and make sure your kids don’t eat it, since it looks like that oreo/cream cheese truffle stuff)
• Scoop the moistened soil into the basket and fill to the top.

Now comes the secret ingredient—wheat berries! (the fancy name for wheat seeds)
Definitely watch the video above for additional info on all of this.

THESE are the wheat berries I like.  I’ve purchased red and white wheat before and I swear that the white wheat grows faster and more full, every time.  So get a bag of this.  It might look like a lot of wheat, but we’ve used it numerous times and have shared it with the teachers at school for class science projects.  If you do Amazon Prime, you’ll have it in a couple of days. Ding!

Again, follow the steps outlined in the detailed video.

And in just three days, you have this!
Mother Nature killing it.  Right??

After planting this grass, I actually left to go out of town.  So Lucy was in charge of watering and taking care of it (which she loved.) She texted me that photo on Day 3.
And then just two days after that….wow!  Real blades!
I told you this stuff is growing while you type, and wash dishes, and make dinner. 
By Day 9, it had almost run its full course.  This is definitely a 1 1/2 to 2 week project.  It takes about a week for it to fully mature, and then about a week of enjoyment.  So if you’re planning it for Easter, do the math backwards.
And then fill that pretty basket up with eggs!
It’s such a beautiful decor piece in the house…and a fun conversation starter.

If you get any stray blades growing through the basket, just pull them out.

And if you find any mold growing in your grass, this is not uncommon, nor is it harmful.  With all those blades planted very closely together, the wheatgrass doesn’t have as much breathing room as it would if planted in an open field.
You can google search many articles that talk about this and offer suggestions.
You may also notice moisture under your basket, which is normal.  Make sure you don’t over-water.  In fact you don’t need to do much after the blades are fully grown in.  But if your basket is on a wooden table, keep a small towel or plate under it to protect your furniture.

And finally, when the grass has run its course, it looks like this:

How to grow Easter Grass and Wheatgrass in a Basket on MADE Everyday with Dana Willard

It’s actually pretty hard to pull out of the basket since the roots are fantastically woven together in there.
I mean, look at that thing—just standing on its own!
I tossed the old grass in our compost pile, rinsed out the basket, and now I’m ready to grow more!

And there you go my friends.  Grass in a basket.
It’s so much fun.
Happy growing!

  1. 1) Patricia Campbell

    You… TOSSED IT OUT!!!! ???????????????? LOL
    You do realize, I’m sure, that Wheat grass has a lot of nutritional value and can be blended into smoothies, put into your salads, etc. Be a bunny????!! Eat your greens!!

    This message brought to by your friendly neighborhood former-hater-of-all-things-vegetable (except carrots, of course). ????????

    • 2) Dana

      Yes! It can definitely be used for juicing. But my tutorial is geared more at decorative ideas, since you may want to take some extra steps for care and draining properly if it will be used for consumption.

  2. 3) Patricia Campbell

    Whoops!! Nearly forgot!! Thank you for the cute idea!! ???? I can’t wait to do this with my 6 y/of granddaughter, Ivy.

    Ivy’s Grammy

  3. 4) Melissa Berry

    I’ve been wanting to try growing wheat grass since I saw your video on it. It looks easy enough for a brown thumb like me. Haha. I love it in a basket- so “Spring-y!”

  4. 5) JeSSica

    I followed your tutorial last year for a mad hatter tea party we had for the RS birthday party. I grew it in tea cups! It did get a fair amount of mold, so we definitely had to be selective with which growth was used in smoothies. I live in the Utah desert so it was a balancing act to get enough water to not let it dry out, but not too much that it grew lots of mold.

    • 6) Dana

      YES. It’s definitely a balancing act, and I’m not sure it can be avoided…at least what I read from many other sites. But I LOVE your idea of growing it in teacups! Super fun.

  5. 7) Sandy grady

    Good job on your video ladies. I made these about 20 years ago with my children and another family, and it is one of those things our kids remember the most. Wanted a refresher to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything because I made a grass basket with my four year old grandson last night. Thank you!

  6. 8) Ashley Moats

    Love this idea! So simple and makes such an impact. Kids can be so impatient about things growing, this is one thing that they can be amazed at how fast it grows!

  7. 9) Amy

    Thank you for your tutorial! I am anxious for Spring and some “green”… so I will be making these soon for my house! Enjoy that Texas sun!

    • 10) Dana

      Haha. Thanks Amy!

  8. 11) Jeanne

    I loved your idea and since I am late starting this I will soak my wheat berries over night to get a jump start. Yes I love watching them grow too!
    Thank you, Jeanne

  9. 12) Wer ruft AN (HTTPS://WWW.TELE-CH.INFO/

    I know Easter was more than a month ago, but I love that idea and I will use it next year. Thank you for sharing

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