Wednesday, April 4, 2012

How to Grow Wheatgrass

A couple of weeks ago, I had to come up with some centerpieces for our annual Relief Society Birthday dinner. I really wanted something bright, fun, and Spring-like, so I decided that growing some Wheatgrass would be perfect! It's the perfect color of green for a fresh Spring feel, and much cheaper than flowers! So I googled Wheatgrass, searched Pinterest, and became an instant expert. That's because it's super easy and even I couldn't kill it! I read that it takes 2 weeks to be perfect, but only had 11 days and mine turned out beautiful! So here's what I did...
First I got one of my number 10 cans of red hard wheat out of my food storage. It does not matter how old it is.  Or you can get it from the bulk food section at Winco, or any grocery store. 
I took a couple of cups of wheat and soaked it in water over night. If you accidentally forget about it and leave it for 2 nights, that's ok, it will still work. Ask me how I know? :) 
Then I just got some cheap plastic containers from the dollar store, and filled them with potting soil. I drained the water and spread a thin layer of wheat on top of each container of potting soil.

Then I just kept a spray bottle next to my containers and sprayed them a few times a day to keep the soil moist. Don't get it so wet that the water goes to the bottom of your container, or it might start to mold. But be sure to spray it every day, several times. I left this job up to my kids and they thought it was SO fun to see how fast it grew every day! 
 On day 1 you can already see tiny sprouts starting!
 
 By days 3 and 4, the grass starts to pop up really fast!


 By day 7, some of my containers were doing really well, and others were kind of sparse. But they caught up with the others in time for the party and looked great!

 I also read that these were supposed to be in the sun. I did mine in the basement. They got next to no sun, since it was also cloudy every day. They did fine. Seriously the easiest thing to grow ever!

By day 11, the day of the party, they were all looking fabulous! I gave them each a haircut so they were all the same height, and dressed up the container a bit, and tah-dah! Wheatgrass centerpieces, who knew? :)

  I'm saving the leftovers for my Easter table. Oh, and should you decide you want to eat them when you're done with them, there are TONS of Wheatgrass recipes out there. Good luck, and Happy Spring!!!
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