Plant a Kids Pizza Garden in a DIY Pizza Garden Planter

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Miracle-Gro Gro-ables. All opinions are 100% mine.

My four year old looked at me with tilted head and puzzled eyes.

“We’re going to grow PIZZA?”

I chuckled and explained, “No, sweetie.  We’re going to grow the TOPPINGS for pizza.”

His eyes grew wider; he looked like he finally understood.

“So we’re going to grow PEPPERONI!”

Nope; my preschooler never flinched as he mentioned pepperoni growing in a garden.  As we carried on this conversation, gathering our Miracle-Gro Gro-ables to plant in our “Pizza Garden”, I realized two things:

1. My child needs some more exposure to vegetables.
2. And my child really needs this gardening activity!

Plant a “Pizza Garden” for a Fun Kids Gardening Activity

I saw a pizza garden in a local community garden when I went on a field trip with my oldest last year.  It consisted of a giant wooden barrel planter, divided into “pizza slice” wedges with string, with different pizza ingredients planted in each “slice.” When we got our Gro-ables kit from Miracle-Gro, and I saw the tomato, bell pepper, spinach, and basil seed pods, I knew a Pizza Garden would be a fun outdoor activity for the kids.  Perfect to get the kids connecting with nature, learning the science of plants first-hand, and excited about cooking with their produce, too!

Each individual Miracle-Gro Gro-ables kit comes with 30 Gro-able pods in one variety.  There are 4 – 6 varieties to choose from.  Since they’re easy to plant and guaranteed to grow, they make gardening with kids easy and fun.

How to Make a DIY Planter & Pizza Garden

Supplies:

• large, round planter
• permanent oil-based paint pens – in tan, cream, white, red, and green
• drill (optional – if your planter doesn’t have drainage holes in the bottom)
• small rocks or gravel
• potting mix
• Miracle-Gro Gro-ables of your favorite fruit, vegetable, and/or herb pizza toppings

Steps:

You can really use any un-decorated round planter as is or even just a round garden patch, but I thought I’d make a special “Pizza Planter” to up the fun factor for the kids.

Here’s the step-by-step to paint pizza slices on a planter using oil-based paint pens:

1. Use a tan paint pen to draw triangle pizza slices and color in the crust area.  (I opened my tan pen to find it broken!  So I settled with the cream one instead.)  LET DRY before moving on.
2. Use a red paint pen to add some red “sauce” at the inside edge of the crust and around the inside of the triangle.  LET DRY before moving on.
3. Use a white or cream paint pen to color in the rest of the triangle for the “cheese.”  LET DRY before moving on.
4. Use a red paint pen to add little circles of “pepperoni” to each pizza slice.  LET DRY before moving on.
5. Use a green paint pen to add small dashes of “bell peppers” to each pizza slice.

LET DRY completely before handling and planting.

How to Plant Your Pizza Garden

J.C. helped me look through our Miracle-Gro Gro-ables and pick out 4 good pizza toppings: Roma Tomatoes, Sweet Bell Peppers, Basil, and Spinach.

Nope; no pepperoni Miracle-Gro Gro-ables.  Sorry, J.C!

Our planter didn’t have drainage holes in the bottom, so Cliff drilled some for us before we got started.

We added a few inches of small stone gravel to the bottom, also for drainage.  Then added potting mix on top of that until full.

J.C. helped me divide our circle into “pizza slices” by dragging his finger in an “X” across the top of the potting mix.

Then he removed the lid from the first Gro-able seed pod and pushed it down into center of one of the “slices” until the top was level with the top of the potting mix.  Easy peasy!

And guaranteed to grow, too.  Which is extra important when a four year old is counting on it, right?!

We did this with each of the rest of the seed pods in each of the “slice” of our Pizza Garden.

J.C. loves helping to water his Pizza Garden each day.  We should see some sprouts in a week or two!

To find more project inspiration, visit the Miracle-Gro Gro-ables Project site!

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More Outdoor Activities from B-Inspired Mama:

    

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Miracle-Gro Gro-ables.  All opinions are 100% mine.  Please see my disclosure policy.