Green Easter Baskets

We have been planting Easter grass for our Easter baskets ever since we adopted the kids.  This is such a fun tradition for us now.  The kids start reminding me in January to plant the Easter baskets so the grass will grow in time. The seeds need about two weeks of growing time to look good. 

This is the pile of supplies you will need.  If you are using a real basket then line it with a piece of plastic before you add the dirt.  I have used heavy duty plastic garbage bags or plastic drop cloths from painting projects. Since I am using cheap beach buckets this year, there is no need to line the bucket.

Any grass seed will work as long as it is not super old.  I have found that grass seed that has been frozen over the winter can be tricky to grow.  If you really want this project to work, try getting a new bag of grass seed every other year and storing the seed inside over the winter if you are in an area that reaches freezing temperatures in the winter.   

I found 'Easter Baskets' at Michaels for a buck each!  Their beach buckets also come in great spring colors.   

Fill your buckets a little over half way up.  If you fill it all the way up, you will not have that much room for the stuff the Easter Bunny is going to bring.

Then start sprinkling the grass seed in the bucket. 

This looks like a good amount of seeds to me.  You will want a thick patch of grass in your basket.

This is such serious work for these guys. 

When the seeds are sprinkled, they will need water.  We use a small spray bottle to water our seeds.  If you just pour a glass of water over the seeds, the water will move the seeds around.  A spray bottle works really well.  

Stick them in a south facing window if you have one and in about two weeks....

I also planted grass in my favorite casserole dish.  This is going to be the center piece on the kids' Easter table. The centerpiece is not as far along as the Easter Baskets because I don't want this grass to be as long as the grass in the kids' baskets. You can check back on Thursday to see how this turns out.