Yes, the wheat grass I mentioned finding again the other day. Such a seemingly simple find turned into a late night “huh?” for me. Soaking seeds is one of those things that seems straightforward when you first see it mentioned until you start seeing nuances.
Directions: Soak wheat grass seeds in warm water overnight.
When you’re sleepy, yet still wanting to finally do what you remembered as being a simple, straight forward thing that shouldn’t take long before heading upstairs to bed, the “warm water” part is what suddenly seems to leap out at you from the package and promptly tugs on your brain in a way you really didn’t want to be thinking about with a dopey brain. Yes, after a night of sleep, it’s obvious this was an overthinking moment. Still, last night, that’s where my brain found itself.
Your tired gray matter starts wanting you to head back to the computer to find out exactly what that means, especially when you’re working with something that has a higher chance for whatever reason to not grow easily even if normally it would.
That part of your brain that can be sent to a corner but still never really shuts up starts rattling off options once it realizes you simply refuse to go back to the computer knowing you’ll have to wait for it to start up again. It also knows that unspoken fear that you’d fall down an internet hole trying to find the answer–meaning putting off sleeping even further. So that inner voice quickly seizes upon the crisis and starts rattling out a list in what seems a breathless rush as you hold the package in your hand.
“Warm” as in:
- “Let rise in warm oven” warm?
- Use warm water from the tap and it’s ok if it cools over the course of the night warm?
- Maybe soaking them in a potpourii sized plug in crockpot warm?
- What about in a bowl left on the steam radiator all night warm? (For some folks, this could also be a hot water radiator or fireplace/woodstove, but we’re a steam house.)
Since I tend to prefer low tech solutions–especially when it doesn’t involve too many hoops and machinations making the process more steam punk convoluted than K.I.S.S.–and seems a likely method to get the job done right the first time, I chose #4.
I wanted to try with only some of the seeds I had, because if it didn’t work, I could try something else after reading up about wheat grass germination again. So I grabbed a small mixing bowl, which of course was just too narrow to fit flat on the higher spine parts of the radiator. So I grabbed what seemed would fix that issue while still allowing the heat to flow through easily:
Bowl and water are still warm, and after breakfast I’ll be planting them according to the directions on the package.
I do want to add that this morning, I did fall down an internet hole about wheat grass in general. It’s amazing to me how many different ways folks talk about germination alone, forget what to do with them after you plant them!
No wonder some folks throw their hands up in the air when seeking info (especially on the internet) trying to understand something for the first time. Some of the directions I’m seeing for various stages border on “superfluous steps added” to my brain, which makes it even easier to get discouraged.
If this first batch doesn’t do well, I will likely try one of the methods I read about where you don’t put the seeds in soil until you see the first root “tails” coming out of the seeds.
Good thing I’m an optimistic pessimist, I hope for the best while bracing (and often planning) for the worst.
If you grow wheat grass and have two copper to share about it, feel free below!
