Create a Pizza Themed Garden

If You Love Pizza, Is It Worth The Effort To Build Your Own Pizza Garden?

When it comes to making fresh pizza at home, these days you have a lot of options. You might be the type of person who just wants to open a refrigerated ready-made crust and toss the pizza in the oven. Perhaps you are the type who loves taking the time and care to make fresh dough, letting it rise and then firing up your oven. Whichever type of person you are, our Garden Center has everything you need to start a pizza garden in your backyard that allows you to select the toppings that will really make your pizza pop!

Lots of the vegetables and herbs that help make an amazing pizza are easy to grow in containers of all sizes, and you can even grow some of them in a sunny window.

The term pizza garden can have multiple meanings. Not only do great toppings grow well within containers of many sizes, you can also create nearly any size garden space to enhance your pizza recipe with a little effort. If you’re a DIY type, you can even create an actual round pizza shape garden with some edging material and then divide grow sections into triangular slices containing different herbs and veggies! But don’t worry, if you don’t have a large gardening space, all of the plants and herbs you want to include in your pizza garden will do well in larger planters or pots. Some will even thrive inside in a sunny window!

Here are some ideas of herbs and vegetable you can include in your Pizza Garden:

Oregano
Basil
Garlic
Rosemary
Parsley
Onions
Tomatoes
Jalapeños
Banana peppers
Bell Peppers
Arugula

Quick tip: Some vegetables thrive when put nearby other vegetables and herbs. Here’s a guide that shows you which make great pairs or trios, and which vegetables will need a good amount of space from each other. What Vegetables Are Good To Grow Together?

Building Your Pizza Garden

Make sure to choose an area with full sun, meaning 6 to 8 hours of sunlight per day. Most of the vegetables and herbs that make a great pizza will thrive in full sunlight and in well-drained soil. If you are planting a raised bed or in a garden spot, Miracle-Gro Garden Soil: Vegetables & Herbs is a good choice, as well as Whitney Farms Organic Raised Bed Soils. Either will help you get your growing season off to a great start.

For a pizza garden made with containers, Miracle-Gro’s Moisture Control Potting Mix will be the right formulation for your plants to thrive. Make sure to read the plant’s tag for the planting and care instructions, especially when it comes to watering. Herbs can be especially sensitive to under or over-watering.

If you are creating an in-ground garden instead of growing in containers, think about the space that each plant will need. For reference:

Tomato plants: at least 2 feet
Pepper plants: 12 to 15 inches
Oregano: 10 to 12 inches
Garlic: 6 inches
Onions: 4 to 5 inches
Arugula: 12 to 18 inches
Basil: 15 to 18 inches
Thyme: 10 to 12 inches

Themed gardens are a great way to get kids involved in gardening, from selecting the plants, to helping water and care for them, they’ll be excited to see everything come full circle when they help you place toppings on the sauce-covered pizza crust right before it goes into the oven or on the grill. Or a new option that has people talking…

A Great Improvement To Your Pizza Creation is Ready to Take Home

The latest must-have backyard entertaining item available at Ace Hardware is a marvel of engineering and efficiency. It’s call the Ooni Pizza Oven and it makes fresh pizza like you’ve never tasted before. These portable pizza ovens can be fueled by propane, wood chips or charcoal and they can reach cooking temperatures of up to 900F. That means you can build your own pizza, slide it off the peel into the Ooni and it will be ready to eat in less than three minutes!

Ooni Pizza Ovens Sold at Westlake Ace Hardware

Shop Ooni Pizza Ovens at AceHardware.com!

The food channels are on fire with Ooni Pizza Oven demonstrations and pizza making tips. These ovens are perfect for parties where your guests will want to build their own creations, so make sure you have plenty of ideas for recipes to inspire their imaginations. We have a few favorite recipes in our Resources Section. Explore and have fun!