I am making some more Biospheres, and need to get grass onto a raised dirt platform. For my previous pair, I created a dirt bridge from a nearby hill that was at the same level, but it took an age to get across. Is there a better way?
I should have said, no hacks! I know it's trivial to hack in a grass block!
With the silk touch enchantment on any tool, you can obtain a 'grass block' when digging instead of a dirt block. Place the grass in a patch of dirt and it will spread normally.
This is also helpful if you want to transplant Mycelium blocks.
If you want to cheat - hack in a grass block, currently block ID 2.
Otherwise, one solution is to build a dirt walkway/staircase from the nearest patch of grass to your dirt. The thicker the walkway, the faster the grass will grow, as it has more room to spread.
One tip that I found useful is to place torches down (more the better), in order for the grass to grow at night - this speeds things up a lot :)
EDIT:
Check this thread for a helpful guide, in picture form! (note: some points on there may be out of date, as this is from an earlier build of Minecraft - the majority of it should be correct though)
Now that there's pistons, just rig up a piston to push a grass block up to your platform!
The only way is to build a dirt bridge to get the grass to spread there. But if you make your dirt bridge three or four blocks wide, it will spread faster since there are more targets for the grass to spread to, thus increasing the odds of it happening.
Get an enderman to pick up a grass block and place it on the biosphere.
Surprised that no one mentioned this - have a creeper blow up on you on grass (make sure to wear armor so you actually survive). You should get at least one grass block. Reap and repeat!
