How to Make a Pizza Garden

A themed planting of pizza toppings is sure to be a winner with the whole family.

And if you feel stuck in a rut with the veggie garden, this pizza garden is something different to try out. You will need a level, sunny piece of ground within the veggie garden where you can make a circular bed, about 2.5m in diameter, as well as compost, seedlings, a form of edging (metal, plastic, bricks, wood), and three 2.5m-long wooden stakes (to demarcate the pizza slices).

Suggested toppings: Three determinate tomato seedlings (‘Floradade’, ‘Heinz 1370’), sweet bell peppers or chillies, spring onions and pizza herbs like oregano, basil, rocket and parsley, or others of your choice.

1. Mark out the circle, using a stick and piece of string or tape measure. Loosen the soil, adding compost and an organic fertiliser. Put the edging in place.
2. Use the three sticks to mark out the pizza slices.
3. Place out the plants. Tomatoes need space to grow, and each plant can get a ‘slice’ to itself. Arrange the rest of the plants in the remaining three slices. Space basil, bell peppers or chillies about 30cm apart, and oregano, rocket and parsley about 20cm apart. Rocket and spring onions can also be sown thickly.
4. When you are happy with the placing, water the seedlings in their pots. The soil should be damp when planting out.
5. Gently ease the plants out of the pots, lightly tease out the roots of any rootbound plants, and plant in the soil at the same height as they were in the pots.
6. Tomato seedlings can be planted deeper, up to their first set of leaves. This helps them to establish a stronger root system.
7. Lightly firm down the soil around the plants and water in. Cover the soil with a light mulch. As the garden grows, water regularly, using a hose to water around the base of the veggies rather than a sprinkler, and stake the tomatoes, removing the suckers or side shoots that occur between the main stem and the branches.

Try this for your pizza garden

When transplanting from seed trays, root shock can set back seedlings by a week or two. StartGro from EcoBuz is a drench containing micronutrients (silica, calcium and boron) that reduces transplanting stress and promotes early root and shoot growth, helping plants to become better established. Dissolve 5ml in 5 litres of water and water in when planting or transplanting.