by Kessie Carroll

Created on: May 31, 2009

A pizza garden is not only shaped like a pizza, but it contains the primary ingredients for making a pizza. This is a great garden for kids.

First, you need a six foot space of bare earth for your garden. Make sure it gets lots of sunlight! Drive a post in the middle, tie a string to it, and walk around it in a circle to create your pizza garden's perimeter. Then divide that into six wedge-shaped pieces.

Dig or rototill your garden, and add mulch or manure to fertilize the soil. As a decorative touch, use stones to mark the perimeter of the garden, and the various wedge-shaped spaces. This way it looks like a pizza before your plants have filled it out.

What plants should you grow in your garden? Well, things for sauce and toppings, of course. If you are starting your garden in early spring, you can grow everything from seeds indoors. If you are starting later, however, invest in transplants from your local nursery. You can find all the plants and herbs listed below as transplants.

Tomatoes are a must-have. If you want your tomatoes to ripen quickly, get the Early Girl variety. If you prefer a thicker sauce, try one of the paste tomatoes, such as Roma.

Bell peppers are easy to grow and taste great on a pizza. If you are adventurous, try planting a jalapeno plant and adding that as a topping.

Onions are another suggestion. White, red, or yellow are all good choices, and they all make good sauce and toppings.

That fills three of your six wedge-shaped spots. Fill the other three with pizza sauce herbs, like parsley, basil, and oregano, or whatever herbs you prefer.

Make sure to water regularly, especially as summer kicks in and the temperature rises. Everything in your garden loves sunlight, however, so with enough water, your plants should flourish. One gardener recommends keeping your herbs trimmed, especially the basil, because it will turn bitter once it flowers.

Tomatoes and peppers take 50-90 days to mature, so plan on growing your pizza garden all summer. You can harvest your herbs at any time. Gather them into bunches and hang them in a warm, dry place to dry out. Then store them in an airtight bag or container. For quick dehydration, spread the leaves out on a baking sheet, turn your oven to its lowest setting, and let it bake for 8 hours.

Once your vegetables have ripened, make some pizza! Sauce recipes for fresh tomatoes abound, and it is a fine feeling to cook up your own pizza sauce. Buy a pizza crust or make your own, and add other toppings like mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, or pineapple. Your pizza will taste great.

References:

http://www.statesman.com/life/content/life/stories/g ardening/05/30/0530garden.html

http://lancaster.unl.edu/hort/youth/pizzagdn.shtml

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