Growing a Pizza Garden

          Yesterday as our graduate class visited the Discovery Center, among many fascinating things, the "pizza garden" caught my eye. Planted within the raised garden bed labeled "pizza garden" where tomato plants, oregano, and basil. WOW! What an awesome idea...planting a garden to grow the ingredients for pizza. Children would LOVE this idea and the possibilities for classroom instruction and integrated curriculum are endless!

          Better Homes and Gardens actually has a great article on their website called Grow a Pizza Garden that could be used to help you get started with your own "pizza garden" in your classroom. This could be a project the class works together to designed and create. There are a variety of herbs and vegetables that can be included in a pizza garden-let the students decide what toppings they want on their pizza! Once the class decides what herbs and veggies to grow in the garden, next there needs to be a plan for how the plants will be arranged. This is an opportunity for the students to do research and figure out how each plant must be cared for in order to thrive. The could observe and collect data on the plot of land allotted for planting to decide which part of the garden gets the most sun and which part the most shade. Students can construct supporting information for their chosen layout and take turns sharing with the class until they can agree on one layout. After the plants are all planted, there are many many calculations and observations that can be carried out while students are patiently waiting for the garden to grow. Students could measure the plants each week and chart their growth, research nutritional value of each of the ingredients in the garden, and even calculate the water usage of the garden.

          The best part about this project is that when everything grows big and tall the class can use the herbs and veggies to actually create a pizza!