Let’s Grow Our Own Pizza Garden!

Just about every kid loves pizza, and what better way to teach them about gardening than to make a pizza garden. The concept is that everything that will go on the pizza they will grow, which includes all the vegetables and herbs.

A word to the wise: Although technically you could put just about any vegetable on a pizza, this isn’t the time to experiment. We recommend sticking with kid-friendly vegetables that are easy to grow, otherwise the happy and eager child will get frustrated.

A typical pizza garden has the following plants:

• Tomatoes
• Onions
• Peppers
• Parsley
• Basil
• Oregano

These plants need to have six to eight hours of sunshine a day, so plan your garden area accordingly.

The Layout of the Pizza Garden 

A fun way to plant your pizza garden is in the shape of an actual pizza! So the bed which you will grow your plants in should be round in shape and make a division for each different kind of plant. The division represents a slice, so your pizza garden will look like a sliced pizza.

 

Image courtesy DavesGarden.com

 

Important Info About Edging

Edging is what makes your garden or lawn have well-defined lines, thus making it clear as to what goes in that area for the pizza garden. There are two methods for doing this:

• The old school way is by using a spade, or a half-moon edger, which you would move along to a predetermined line you’ve created.
• Use a Black & Decker EdgeHog. This will make edging a lot easier!

Materials and Other Info You Will Need

• Choose a location in your yard that gets plenty of sunlight during the day. Make sure that the soil is healthy and well-drained. 
• Edging outline for pizza garden: This is the actual outline which you will use as a guide for when you do the edging. The outline can be made out of metal, plastic, or wood. 
• Seeds of your favorite toppings: This could include bell peppers, tomatoes, rosemary, onions, basil, oregano, and parsley. Or you could use transplants of these toppings. If working with kids, seeds give a better lesson.
• Compost: You could either compost yourself or go to any garden center or nursery and purchase compost. Compost should never contain trash such as bits of plastic or other things of that nature. It should look like dark, rich fluffy soil. 
• Water, of course!

 

Now you’re ready to start.

• You have the location and size of your garden layout, so now you know how far apart the plants and seeds have to be to account for how much space you need.
• Prepare the soil and start edging.
• Place the seeds or transplants.
• Start planting.
• After all the above steps, water your newly-installed pizza garden.
• Note: If you are planting tomatoes, get support for them so that they grow upright.

 

The end result is food that your child grew with his or her own hands. They will probably love to garden after this project! For a quick video demonstration, click here.

Note: All of the above plants are very easy to grow. Please remember that for these plants to thrive, watering and maintenance (weeding) must happen. Here is where you can discuss with your children the virtue of having patience, and how these plants can contribute to a healthy body and mind. Let us know in the comments how your garden pizza tastes!