Cultivate Your Own Round, Pizza-Pie Garden This Season

Yes, it will look like a giant pizza growing in your yard. Spend this summer tending a six-foot-wide, round garden resembling a pizza-pie — that’s grand enough to feed a belly-rumbling giant!

VISUALIZE: Planning for your pizza-shaped garden can be a fun way to get excited for the summer season ahead. On paper, have your kids draw a circle and divide it into seven slices, like a pizza pie. Have everyone share their favorite pizza topping, then label each space with those toppings. One slice/wedge is saved for your entrance/pathway, but the other six can be customized. Some options might include: colorful bell peppers, small eggplants (little fingers variety), tomatoes (plum and cherry), zucchini, and herbs like oregano or basil, along with onions and garlic. Experts recommend keeping the herbs, onions and garlic growing together in one slice, on the south side of your pie, just left of the entrance.

When you dig your garden outside, try outlining your pizza-pie, and each slice, with rocks. You might even choose yellow marigolds and calendulas to resemble cheese in your pizza garden. Clip photos from seed catalogs, print images from online or sketch each topping to create an artistic plan of this season’s pizza patch to hang on the fridge.

HARVEST PARTY: When it’s time to harvest, consider having a DIY pizza party as the much-anticipated grand finale for a summer filled with diligent work! Make homemade pizza-shaped invitations; grab frozen pizza dough at the store (or make your own) and offer a dough ball for each guest to roll out; create pizza animals or faces with your fresh toppings; bake and enjoy! Or use your garden veggies to make the featured recipe this month!

If your family lives for pizza night, this themed garden is an easy, fun way to tap into the wellbeing benefits of planting with your loved ones, which extend far beyond the dinnerplate. A few unique wellbeing benefits of gardening include its ability to:

reduce stress: Science shows the fragrance of nature (think: freshly cut grass or a bouquet of flowers) can promote overall mental wellbeing by helping us feel relaxed and even joyful.

keep us physically strong: Several activities in the garden call on functional movement (think: squats, lifting/carrying, pulling or raking), meaning they work the whole body as one system, which is natural and beneficial for overall wellbeing.

help us breathe deeper: Spending time outdoors encourages deeper breathing, thus moving more oxygen around the body and supporting the health of all organ systems.

help us relax: Being in nature reduces heart rate, lowers blood pressure and eases muscle tension. Studies show bird song is a powerful stress-reducer, even when listening via headphones. It’s even more powerful than being in a green space or outdoors in nature.

Source:

“Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Activities to Do in the Garden”

“How Gardening Can Improve Your Health,” Cleveland Clinic authors, health.clevelandclinic.org, May 2, 2022.

“Dig Into the Benefits of Gardening,” Mayo Clinic Health System, mayoclinichealthsystem.org, July 12, 2022.

“Why Birds and Their Songs Are Good for Our Mental Health,” Richard Sima, washingtonpost.com, May 18, 2023.