Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Grow Your Own Wheat Grass in a Week! (Bringing some Earth Inside- Belated Earth Day Post)

Happy Earth Day, a day late

I thought, what better way to celebrate Earth Day, than to show you how you can bring a little Earth Inside!  Growing Wheat grass is VERY simple and so fun to watch progress because it happens so quickly!
AND... Not only does it look pretty inside, it also has some GREAT HEALTH BENEFITS!!! Here's an article I enjoyed on the Health Benefits of Wheat Grass, since you are growing it yourself- you know where it came from and how it was grown, does it get any more ORGANIC than that?!

Buy

Step one to growing your own Wheat Grass is to go to a store with a bulk food section (we love Fred Meyer for this reason).  You should be able to find Wheat Berries.  There are several different varieties- I usually end up getting Red.  This is what they look like.

Soak

Step 2 is just as simple.  Put them in a bowl and soak them in some water for 1-2 days.  After they are soaked, they will start to sprout- like the image below.  Once they've sprouted you are only a couple days away from beautiful grass!



Plant


You can use virtually any container to grow your wheat grass.  I personally think it is fascinating to also see the roots grow so I like planting them in glass.  But, I also like the look of the barnwood box I used, and metal!  (If you are using wood, make sure you line it with plastic so water doesn't seep out and ruin the surface you put it on.)  Use potting soil to fill your container about 1/2 an inch from the top.  Then sprinkle your sprouted wheat grass on top of the soil.  You want them to be really close together, but they don't need to be layered on top of each other.  


Water


The most important part of growing wheat grass is watering.  When you first lay them on top of your soil, make sure you saturate the soil pretty well with water.  Then, twice a day use a spray bottle on a mist setting and mist the wheat grass.  That is ALL YOU HAVE TO DO!

WATCH IT GROW




Using Wheat Grass in your Decor


I used a variety of containers to grow and incorporated them in my Kitchen, Dining Room and Living Room Mantel to brighten up my rooms for Spring!  There are many cute ideas on Pinterest, I am sure for how to use it in other seasons as well- Have fun Pinning!  How cute would a creative container planted with Wheat Grass be for a Mother's Day Gift?!







FOR KIDS TOO!

I also brought a container I planted to my Charges (the littles that I Nanny).  They LOVED watching the grass sprout, grow roots and grow each day and also enjoyed watering!  I encourage you to do this project with your children- and maybe even put some Wheat Grass in their next smoothie!




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2 comments:

  1. I usually plant wheat grass for Easter and I love the way you have used it. Good tutorial too!

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  2. I think this is great, will check it out at a local bulk store. Not sure if I've seen red wheat grass seeds before. I think we call it 'cat grass' up here in Toronto, or at least that's what they call it when they sell it. : )

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