How to Grow a Pizza Garden
Growing a pizza garden can be fun for the whole family. It’s a great way to add nutritional value to a favorite meal.
The typical way to grow a pizza garden is in the shape of a pizza pie. The slices are separated into different vegetables for pizza toppings. It’s maintained through regular watering and a fertilizing routine.
We are going to look at the different ways you can begin and grow your pizza garden as well as how to maintain it.
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What is a Pizza Garden?
A pizza garden is:
A garden that consists of the herbs and vegetables that go into the production of a pizza
The options are pretty much limitless and are based on your preferences for what you like on your pizza.
Usually, a pizza garden contains plants like tomatoes, herbs, onions, and garlic.
It can be grown in the shape of a pizza.
Alternatively, the plants can all be mixed together in the bed or grown in containers.
Ready to start growing your own pizza garden? Check out this video for inspiration, and keep reading my tips for growing a pizza garden below:
How Do You Grow a Pizza Garden?
First, you’ll need to decide on the size and location of the bed. The plants you are growing will determine how much space you need. The site you choose will need to receive at least 6 - 8 hours of full sun each day.
It can be tricky to find the right location for your pizza garden, especially if you already have a jam-packed garden. This garden planning chart can help.
Next, prepare your soil and install edging. Make sure you remove all the weeds and dig in organic matter to make the soil ready for plants to grow.
Third, plant your vegetables. Make sure you plant them far enough apart to allow for their eventual growth and spreading.
Fourth, you will need to water your newly planted garden. Make sure you keep a regular maintenance schedule to ensure your plants don’t dry out. You’ll also have to remember to weed them.
Finally, if you’ve planted tomatoes, don’t forget to give them some kind of support. A cage or a stake is the most common solution.
What Equipment Do I Need to Grow a Pizza Garden?
When getting ready to grow any garden there are some absolutely necessary tools you must have.
The very first thing you need to get is a trowel. It’s the best tool for breaking up dirt clumps. You’ll want to make sure you get one with a solid handle and a sturdy metal blade.
Next, you’ll need a good pair of pruning shears for when it’s time to harvest your crops.
Another essential is a hose or watering can. You’ll have to water your plants somehow so one of these items will be required.
While not required, to make everything easier, you can buy a pizza garden starter kit. These kits have a variety of seeds for common plants grown in a pizza garden. You’ll just have to make sure you buy it early enough for the plants to grow.
Styling the Garden
Most pizza gardens are made in the shape of a pizza with each vegetable getting one slice of the pie. You’ll define the slices with wood pieces and install edging around the outside to make the perimeter of the pie.
It’s important to make sure the pie shape is large enough for the vegetables you choose. For instance, if you choose to grow tomatoes, it needs to be large enough to accommodate the plants as well as their support structures.
A helpful tip is to place the plants on their respective plots before planting to check for spacing. This way you can ensure that the bed you have set up is big enough for all the plants you want to include.
Choose the Right Plants
For this kind of garden, you’ll want to make sure you plant the right plants, meaning all the ones associated with pizza. Many pizza toppings are easy to grow and cultivate from home.
Oregano is essential to a pizza and it’s easy to grow. However, it loses its flavor after it flowers so be sure to pinch off the flowers to prolong your harvest. This will also encourage bushier growth.
If you’re interested in making your own sauce for your pizza, don’t forget to plant paste tomatoes. They’ll need full sun and consistently moist soil
To kick it up a notch, grow some jalapeño and banana peppers. Both varieties are easy to grow. Staking may be required to maintain the plants.
Mushrooms are a great option for your pizza garden. To make it even easier, you can buy a mushroom kit to start growing them.
Growing basil at home is more cost-effective and flavorful than buying it at the store. You’ll want to grow it in the sun for the best flavor. Trim back the flowers to keep the leaves growing.
Thyme comes in several varieties and you’ll want to select the one that best suits the needs of your garden. It’s a perennial herb so you’ll be able to enjoy it year after year.
Other plants you may want to include are onions, arugula, and bell peppers.
Pick the Best Garden Space
The first thing you need to do is make a pizza garden plan.
When choosing the space for your pizza garden, you will need a minimum of 3 x 6-foot space. You'll want to have at least a foot between your pizza herbs and tomato rows, if possible.
It can either be a raised garden bed or a garden plot. It must be a sunny area. Remember, most pizza plants, like fresh oregano and tomatoes, love sun. When you're growing tomatoes and these other pizza garden plants for fresh toppings, lots of sun and water are key.
Amend the Soil
The first thing you’ll want to do when amending your soil is to evaluate it. If you have it tested, you can find out information on its pH, nutritional value, and texture. The results can tell you what steps to take to make the soil optimal for plant growth.
Next, based on the results of the test, adjust your soil’s pH. Use lime to raise it and sulfur to lower it. Your plants can’t take up nutrients correctly until the pH is at the right level.
If your soil texture is off, you’ll need to adjust it with organic material, like compost, well rotted manure, or peat moss. Correcting the soil texture will allow the roots to take up moisture and air.
Finally, you’ll need to add some nutrients if your test indicated that your soil was lacking them. The soil test will also give you a recommendation on which type of balanced organic fertilizer to use based on how much nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium you need to apply.
Consider Growing in Containers
Are you in a situation where you don’t have the space to plant a full-size garden? Don’t worry, you can still make a pizza garden in one or more containers.
You’ll need to decide which vegetables and herbs you are growing first. This will then tell you how big your containers need to be.
When transitioning to growing a pizza garden in a pot, consider growing these vegetables:
Green onions
Cherry tomatoes
Jalepeños
Rosemary
Oregano
Basil
Parsley
Mushrooms
Arugula
Bell peppers
These plants all grow well inside containers and indoors if you don’t have outdoor space for your garden.
If you choose a large enough pot, your variety of plants will all fit together. However, the peppers and tomatoes will need supports, making them harder to fit in with everything else. You may find that it works better to have a garden of several pots.
Whether you choose one pot or many, you’ll need to ensure that your garden gets enough sunlight. Place it in a window or on your balcony. If you have enough room outside for these sun lovers, set it up there.
Plant Seeds or Seedlings
When you start a garden from seeds, you are often given a much bigger variety to choose from. It’s also a lot more cost-efficient to use seeds.
Unfortunately, while growing plants from seeds can be extremely rewarding, it takes a very long time. Seedling trays take up a lot of space and there is a higher potential to lose plants using this method.
Planting with seedlings, on the other hand, offers a much quicker result than seeding. You’ll have more predictable results as you don’t have to germinate the plants.
The downside to seedlings is that there tends to be a limited selection. It can get expensive, especially if you’re using transplants. If the plants weren’t prepared for planting, there is the potential for them to die from shock. That is especially true when you are growing sensitive plants and start to plant tomatoes without hardening them off.
To decide between these two methods, you’ll first have to decide how much time you have before the harvest season. Next, you have to consider if the plants will do well transplanting or if you need to seed them.
Watering the Plants
Watering your pizza garden can be tricky depending on the layout you’ve chosen. If you’ve gone with the pizza pie layout, simply water each plant as it requires water. If you’ve gone with a container, you’ll have to pay attention to how much water you are adding while you are gardening.
Tomatoes will require the most water out of all your plant selections. Water them at the base, avoiding the leaves, to prevent foliar diseases. Peppers and basil will need the most water after tomatoes.
So while you are providing enough water to these plants, you need to ensure that your other plants are not getting too much water. Overwatering can be just as bad as, if not worse than, underwatering.
Fertilizing the Plants
For best results, after planting, fertilize your plants once a month. These plants will require a standard fertilizer. This means a fertilizer like 16-16-16, with equal parts nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
You have two basic options. One, you can work the fertilizer into the soil around the base of the plants. Two, you can dissolve the fertilizer in water and pour the water at the base of the plants.
Pests and Diseases
There are many pests and diseases that can affect your pizza garden, even if you opt to grow it inside. The good news is there are ways to combat these problems to keep your vegetables healthy.
A tomato plant can suffer from anthracnose which will cause sunken spots on the fruits. Liquid copper and neem sprays will help get this disease under control. If the plant is too affected, however, you will have to destroy it.
Peppers and tomatoes can be affected by bacterial leaf spot. This disease causes dark spots on leaves and fruits. There is no cure but it can be managed through the application of fungicides, limiting nitrogen fertilizers, and rotating crops.
Downy mildew looks like a purple, downy growth on the underside of your vegetables. The way to avoid this problem is to avoid the conditions it favors. Prune your plants so they have good air circulation and water them in the morning so they can dry out throughout the day.
Other conditions to watch out for include
Early blight
Late blight
Mosaic virus
Powdery mildew
Wilt
You’ll need to keep an eye out for pests. If you see signs of them eating your plants, remove the damaged plant parts and follow a pest removal strategy that is safe for your plants.
Harvesting the Pizza Garden
When harvesting tomatoes and peppers, pull them firmly from the plants. For your herbs, like basil and oregano, you’ll only want to take some of the leaves. Onions and garlic will be pulled up from the soil.
Great Recipes for Homemade Pizza
So you’ve harvested your pizza garden and now you have fresh vegetables. It’s the perfect time to make homemade pizza.
You'll want to start by making sauce (you can find out more information on how to make your own sauce with your own ingredients here). Once you've made the sauce, you'll need to make the pizza dough and work it into a round shape (you can even use a sourdough pizza crust if you want to make your life a little easier, too!).
Margherita pizza will take advantage of the tomatoes that you have grown in your pizza garden. It’s a simple pizza with fresh mozzarella, garlic, tomatoes, a little olive oil, and basil on a woodfired crust.
Since you’ve grown all these veggies, why not take advantage of them and make a healthy pizza? Start with a regular pizza base and add all your favorite vegetables to make it light and healthy. Don't forget the garlic!
The options are limitless when making your own pizza. This is especially true if you have grown your own vegetables.
How Do You Make Pizza Gardens for Kids?
Kids love pizza! That's no secret. And if you want to get kids interested in gardening, growing pizza plants is one of the best ways to do it.
To make a pizza garden for kids, you’ll basically follow the same steps as above. However, you’ll want to make it more entertaining to hold their interest. Make sure you choose the easiest plants to grow so that they do not become discouraged or frustrated.
Typically a pizza garden for kids includes basil, parsley, oregano, onions, tomatoes, and peppers. All of these are super easy for kids to grow. Remember, you’ll need to remind them to water the plants and they’ll need help when it’s time for weeding.
To make the whole experience even more fun, consider planting the garden in the shape of a pizza with each vegetable getting one slice of the pie. Make sure that you choose a location that receives 6 - 8 hours of direct sunlight each day for the best growing results.
Conclusion
Growing a pizza garden can be a cost-effective way to have pizza ingredients readily available for one of your family’s favorite dishes. It can also be very rewarding to grow your own vegetables instead of purchasing them at the store. Of course, it's also a great way to get kids involved in gardening, to get them to eat vegetables, and to get children outdoors, too!
Maintaining a pizza garden is relatively easy and the benefits are great. It is an excellent way to engage children in the art of gardening.
Do you plan on growing a pizza garden this year? If not, what other tips do you have for getting kids involved in gardening? Let me know in the comments!
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