Growing Kitty Grass

I’ve been dabbling in growing plants from seed. As the little plants come up, Dash, one of my cats, is extremely keen on eating the tender seedlings. He stalks the seeding tray and devises ways to get his head under the lid of the tray, the better to chomp some sweet leaves. He is particularly interested in the tomato seedlings, which also happen to be mildly toxic to cats.

In hopes of distracting the Dash from my seedlings, I decided to experiment with growing wheatgrass specifically for him and Mouse (my other cat). Turns out growing wheatgrass is quite easy, and it takes less than a week to have fully-chompable kitty greens. Here is how I did it.

Step 0. Order some wheatgrass seeds on the internet.

You’re also going to need some kind of containery thing to put the seeds in, and possibly some soil. Although you can get away without the soil, and you could possibly plant these in a paper tray or some other “found” container. These seeds are extremely non-fussy.

Step 1. Put the seeds in a layer on top of very moist soil.

Some folks suggest soaking the seeds overnight to help them sprout faster, but others say this is not necessary. I didn’t do any soaking, and things worked out fine. I used a small pot and soil I already had lying around. Some folks simply sprout and grow the seeds on a wet paper towel, without soil.

I covered the seeds with a paper towel, to conserve moisture on top of the seeds, and watered the whole thing thoroughly.

In retrospect, I think I overdid it a bit, and put too many seeds in. No harm done, but it’s a little wasteful as not all of the wheat seeds were able to find room to properly grow.

Step 2. Wait a couple of days, while keeping the seeds and soil wet.

About 48 hours in, the seeds were visibly sprouting. At this point, I removed the paper towel and put the pot on a windowsill to give the sprouts more light.

Step 3. Wait another couple of days, while giving the grass plenty of water.

Give the grass another 2-3 days to grow, and keep watering it well.

Step 4. Present your fresh grass to your feline overlords.

I was pleasantly surprised at how avidly Dash and Mouse attacked the grass. I guess I’ll be growing more of this for them.

Step 5. Be prepared to clean some slick, bright green cat vomit.

Because cats.