A tisket, a tasket - Growing grass for an Easter basket

Easter was a very important day when I was growing up. I can remember my parents usually purchasing a new suit for me with shirt and tie to match. The first time I wore the new outfit would be on Easter morning. Our own children sported a new outfit each Easter morning. My wife has already purchased that new dress and suit for our grandchildren for this Easter. The tradition continues.

Easter was also the day that we hunted for eggs either at Grandma's house, or in our own back yard. I never could figure out how bunnies laid eggs or how eggs got into the crotches between tree limbs.

Over the years I have found that the importance of Easter has begun to fade in the eyes of the American public. Christmas is so important that you can find Christmas trees and ornaments on retail shelves in July, a full six months before Christmas day. This is not the case with Easter. Maybe two or three weeks before the big day, you can find Easter candy, Easter eggs, and bunnies and chicks in retail stores.

One way that you can make Easter an important day in the lives of your children and grandchildren is to help them grow their very own Easter basket. Let me explain.

Go to your local garden center two to three weeks before Easter and find a basket suitable for collecting Easter eggs. It also should come with a plastic liner. You also need to purchase a small package of soil-less potting mix and a handful of annual rye grass seed. I would take the children along also and make this a great field trip.

When you get home, the fun for your children begins. Have them fill the plastic basket liner with the soil-less potting mix. Fill the liner up to one inch below the rim of the liner. Next, spread the annual rye grass seed over the surface of the soil-less potting mix. The seeds should almost be touching each other over the surface of the liner.

Cover the seed with a fine layer of soil-less potting mix. An eighth-inch of potting mix over the seed is sufficient. Next soak the potting mix with water. Make sure that you get all of the potting mix wet. On the other hand, you do not want your potting mix to be floating in water.

Place your planted basket liner in a window in an area of your house where it stays warm. Within a few days your will see new shoots of grass coming up. The speed with which the grass seed germinates depends upon the temperature of the soil-less potting mix. The warmer the potting mix stays, the faster the seed will germinate.

Keep the top inch of the soil-less potting mix damp, but do not over water. If you can't decide whether or not to water, stick your finger into the soil. If it feels damp, no watering is needed. If the top inch of soil feels dry, then given the pot enough water to get the top inch moist.

As the grass starts to grow, you will want to have your kids give the grass seedlings a hair cut. Use any kind of scissors for the haircut. "Mowing" the grass keep the new seedlings short, and will give your kids plenty of room to put Easter eggs in, when they go on their Easter egg hunt.

By involving your kids in growing their own Easter egg basket, they will get more involved in Easter. While starting, growing, and watching their basket you will have a great opportunity to talk to them about the real meaning of Easter, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Happy Easter!