Wood: The Cat Grass Window Box

My cats absolutely love chewing on grass. No, they aren't mini cows. It apparently helps settle their stomach and freshens their breath. It also may provide them with anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals, fiber. From a scientific perspective, none of these claims have really been studied. After all, who's going to pay for that study? The Oat Grass Growers Association? I don't think so. So, mostly it's just a thing they enjoy, and it might provide them with some benefits -- akin to humans drinking juiced wheat grass, maybe (which also don't have much support by scientists for its health benefits).

Anyway, I know they really like it because I take my cat Newton out for walks on a regular basis, and he seeks out the grass near our mailbox. It's one of his favorite things, but I'd rather them eat grass that I grow -- because I know exactly what is on and around it. Outside... you have to worry about a lot of contaminants. So, to remedy this, I started out buying them little patches of cat grass at the local Petsmart. They enjoyed it immensely, but it tended to die after just a few days. I fixed this by deciding to build them a cat grass growing window box!

Newton, inspecting the newly sprouted grass.

Daisy, getting ready to eat some grass.

Nice little drops of water form on the tip of each freshly grown blade.

By now, the cats have had free reign and trampled the grass a bit, but it's still healthy and growing.

Materials:

1.) Wood -- I used a good quality plywood.
3.) Paint -- I used gray and white paint. You can get this anywhere.
2.) A moisture barrier -- some plastic to block water from touching the wood.
4.) Gravel for the bottom of the box to allow water drainage.
5.) Some soil... I used "Miracle Grow" potting mix
6.) Some cat grass seed.
7.) I live near Portland, so during this time of year, light is kind of sparse, so you'll notice regular florescent bulbs. They worked like a charm, and I keep them on a couple hours longer than daylight hours, to simulate springtime and the grass continues to grow.
8.) Besides that stuff, you'd also need a drill, screws, sandpaper, wood glue, and something to cut the wood (a circular or jig saw). Some wood filling putty is also great to fill in the imperfections in plywood.

Maintenance:

Important! Do not over water!! It will mold if you water too often. You only want to water when the soil is pretty dry.

I assume that the miracle grow has enough nutrients to sustain growing cat grass for quite a while. It's a really hardy plant and doesn't require much more than a little water every week or so, depending on humidity. If you want to keep it neatly manicured so it doesn't reach the crab-grassy looking pile in the latest pictures, you'd have to cut it every 4-6 days. It grows pretty fast. The final two pictures were after 2 weeks of growth under those light bulbs.

Purchase Information:
http://tenasclu.blogspot.com/p/purchase-information-for-cat-grass.html