Pizza garden vibes

Thanks to our dietetic student intern Gabby Bodine for her work on this blog and related social media posts.

Who wouldn’t love to be able to walk outside and pick a fresh hot pizza from their garden? Sadly, we cannot grow pizzas but planting a pizza garden is the next best thing! 

In a pizza garden you plant the essential components to make pizza at home: 

• flavorful tomatoes for the sauce

• aromatic herbs  

• fresh vegetables for toppings

Now that we’ve covered what a pizza garden is, it’s time to plan out the area. Depending on space available, you can plant a more traditional garden in a bed in the ground or use pots indoors or outdoors.

My favorite pizza garden layout comes from Martha Stewart - create the shape of an actual pizza with the different plants in segments as the slices! Healthy pizza toppings to to grow in your garden include tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic, arugula, spinach, bell peppers, zucchini, and eggplant.

When you’re ready to plant engage the whole family by inviting the kids to garden alongside you. Kids of all ages love to experience (i.e. play in the dirt) and watch in wonder as plants grow. Studies on school based gardens and others on adult gardeners show that if we grow it, we actually eat it! This increases the possibility of more fruits and vegetables getting into kids’ (and adults’) bellies.

Happy gardening!

Recipes:

DIY - make your own whole wheat pizza dough

All the veggies pizza - vegetarian pizza