Clear other vegetation from the area to turn the soil. Use a shovel to dig up any other plants or grasses where you want to grow your sweetgrass. That way, they won’t compete for light, water, space, or nutrients. Then, drag a hoe through the soil to break it apart and find any remaining roots. Remove any of the old root sys-tems just so they don’t grow back. Removing vegetation and turning the soil also removes packed clumps of soil so it’s easier for your sweetgrass to develop roots. Pack or roll the soil so it has a firm surface. Pull a weighted garden roller over the soil to flatten and pack it down. Otherwise, you can use a tamper to press the soil down by hand. Compact the soil until you only see light footprints when you walk over the site. Wait until after the last frost in spring to plant sweetgrass. Wait until there isn’t any risk of freezing tempera-tures, since your sweetgrass might not produce new growths if it’s too cold when you plant it. Wet the soil so it’s moist 1 in (2.5 cm) below the surface. Dampen the soil with a watering can, sprinkler, or showerhead hose attachment and let the water absorb into the ground. Push your finger into the soil about 1 in (2.5 cm) to see if it feels wet, and continue watering if it doesn’t. Avoid adding so much water that it forms puddles on the surface of the soil, or else your seeds won’t germinate. Only use seeds that are firm when you squeeze them between your fingernails. Otherwise, they may not be ripe enough. Spread about 50 seeds for every 1 sq ft (0.093 m2). Sweetgrass seeds are really small, so it’s okay if you don’t count them out precisely. Sprinkle the seeds on the surface of the soil so you distribute them evenly. Contin-ue adding seeds to fill in the rest of your planting area. Pack the seeds down with 1⁄4 in (0.64 cm) of topsoil. Take leftover soil that you dug up from the area or use fresh potting mix as your top cover. Spread the soil over the seeds, making sure it doesn’t get any deeper than 1⁄4 in (0.64 cm). Then, gently press down on the soil so it makes firm contact with all of the seeds and promotes better germination. Water the soil lightly every day until seedlings sprout. Wet the area with a watering can to help keep your seeds moist and ensure they make good contact with the soil. Be careful not to use so much water that the soil or seeds wash away. Keep the soil moist every day so your seeds are more likely to germinate successful-ly. After about 10–14 days, you’ll see green shoots sprouting up from the soil. Your seeds will not germinate if they dry out. Sweetgrass seeds only have about a 30% germination rate, so you may not see any growths at all. If you have trouble germinating sweetgrass seeds, try planting divisions instead. Water the sweetgrass so the soil stays moist but not soaked. Sweetgrass naturally grows in moist soils and won’t tolerate droughts very well. Every few days, poke your finger into the soil near your sweetgrass to see if it feels wet to the touch. If it doesn’t, then water it deeply with a watering can. Only wet the soil enough so it doesn’t form puddles on the surface. Water sweetgrass in a container for at least 2–3 weeks to establish roots. Buy a pot of sweetgrass shoots from your local nursery a few weeks before you want to put them in the ground. Leave the pot of sweet-grass in a shaded area and water it daily. That way, your grass will develop stronger roots and are more likely to survive after you transplant them. Sweetgrass will survive in a pot for up to a few months if you aren’t able to transplant them right away. Pull the sweetgrass out of the container and soak the roots in water. Gently hold the bases of the grass stalks and slowly ease the soil and roots out of the pot. Fill a bowl with cool water and lower the root mass into it. Carefully break the soil apart from the roots with your fingers, and make sure you don’t damage any of the root structures. This ensures the roots make good contact with the soil in their new bed so they’re more likely to grow. Plant your sweetgrass in a hole slighter larger than its root mass. Use a shovel to dig a hole in your planting area. Make sure you can fit the entire root structure in the hole so there’s room to fill soil in around it. Posi-tion the clump of sweetgrass in the middle of the hole and press it down gently against the soil. If you’re planting multiple sweetgrass clumps in a row, keep them spaced about 2–3 ft (0.61–0.91 m) apart from the centers if their root masses so they have room to grow and fill in. It usually takes 1–2 years for the sweetgrass to fill in the space between clumps. Cover the roots with 1⁄4 in (0.64 cm) of loose soil. You can use soil that you have leftover from digging your hole or just use fresh potting mix to cover the roots. Spread the soil in a loose and even layer over the entire root system so it stays underground. Leave any leafy green foliage uncovered so it continues growing. You don’t need to pack the soil down when you’re transplanting divisions.Divide sweetgrass if you want to propagate more shoots. Wait until the late fall or winter to separate your sweetgrass. Dig up a clump of sweetgrass using a shovel, making sure to leave some behind to grow back in. Make sure the division you take has a rhizome, which is a thick horizontal root, or else it won’t propagate. Sweetgrass will continue growing and spreading if you leave it alone.