Plant A Living Easter Basket

Living Easter baskets are cheerful, fun, and easy to make. They make a pretty centerpiece or kitchen counter decoration, or a sweet gift for adults or children. Your basket can be decorated with eggs, candy or other treats, or small flowers can be tucked in once the grass has grown. It does take some advance planning, however, since grass seed takes 7 to 10 days to germinate. So this weekend is the perfect time to start such a basket. Here is what you do, along with some options to consider.

• You will need: a basket that is wider than it is high. (Most will choose a basket with a handle, but this isn’t necessary.) You will also need some potting soil, a piece of plastic such as a part of a garbage bag, a small amount of grass seed, and a bit of clear plastic wrap.
• Tip: use a dark colored plastic bag to line dark baskets, and a white bag to line light or white baskets.
• Design idea: if you want to include a pot or two of spring flowers, put an empty plastic pot in the basket where those flowers will go once the grass has grown. Once the grass is growing you can slip out the empty pot and tuck a small daffodil, primrose or other flowering plant into that hole. (Note: doing it this way allows you to select the perfect flowering plant in peak bloom. If you planted the flowers in the potting soil before seeding they might die from being too damp while the grass is germinating.) See photo below for some baskets that we planted this way at HCG a few years ago.
• Some baskets come with a plastic liner…if yours does, you can skip the step of using a plastic garbage bag.

See the step-by-step photos below.

• Place your basket in a bright window – it doesn’t have to be full sun. Water the seed gently every two or three days.
• If you’re in a hurry, annual rye grass grows quickly. You can often find this sold as “Cat Grass” on our seed rack in the store.