Bonus Boy and I were set a task  this week. We had to come up with a gardening project, go to Homebase and buy the stuff required, come home and make it – as you can imagine, we jumped for joy!

We decided that we would plant a pizza. This is  a fun project for children and ideal for beginner gardeners so it fits right in with our ongoing mission to get kids gardening.

Our trip to Homebase was no hardship as we are frequently to be found wandering its aisles with a trolley full of plantlets. We tried hard to stay focussed on the job in  hand and he managed to get me past the half price bedding plants without incident.

We spent some time perusing the special ‘children’s gardening’ section before deciding that this was best suited to people who were new to gardening rather than to us seasoned old hands.

We picked up a bargain in the main seed section where seeds were on offer at 4 packets for the price of three. We decided that we needed to grow tomatoes, basil, oregano and spring onions to top our pizzas.

We *may* also have popped chilli seeds into the trolley along with some salad mixes –  you can’t have pizza without salad!

I had no intention of buying a container for him to plant a pizza in as we usually make our own newspaper pots or make do with some of the many old pots we have already at home. However, that little smile was hard to resist and he was very keen to have a windowsill propagator in his bedroom so he can keep an eye on his pizza as it grows. This is made from recycled materials and can be recycled so in the trolley it went.

We bought peat free compost (again, we’re getting through a fair old bit at the moment!) and set off for home.

Once home, planting began almost immediately. He planted 4 pods for each ingredient and I am planting some more as back up just in case his don’t all germinate.

He chose two varieties of tomatoes, one to use as a passata base on top of the pizza dough and one to slice as a topping, spring onions (which will be planted straight into the garden this week), basil and oregano for a bit of herby goodness and some chillis for a bit of zing.

He labelled them so we don’t forget which is which – although he is pretty good at recognising them now once they have come through!

We realised that his windowsill wasn’t wide enough to support his propagator so he and his Dad cobbled together a special shelf extension and the seeds were settled into their new temporary home.

They will stay here until they germinate and grow their first set of true leaves. Once they have, they’ll be potted on  into bigger pots and slowly acclimatised to outdoor conditions before being planted into their final growing position in a few weeks time.

I’ll let him tell you how to plant a pizza. He’s a bit of a joker so watch out!

To Plant a Pizza You Will Need

• Seeds: Plum tomato (we used Roma VF), basil, oregano, spring onions, cherry tomatoes (we used Tumbling Tom), chillis and anything else you fancy atop your pizza base – you could plant peppers or sweetcorn for example
• Compost – we always use a peat free potting mix
• Containers. Seed trays or small pots will do. You don’t have to have a lid but it does speed up germination. See here for full seed planting instructions.
• A light windowsill
• Water

1. Fill your trays/containers with compost. Plant one large seed in each pot or sprinkle a few of the smaller ones. Tomatoes and Chillis were planted individually, basil and oregano were sprinkled.
2. Lightly cover your seeds with compost and place them on a sunny windowsill.
3. Water so they are moist but not half drowned. Keep moist. A little water in the evening is enough. If you over water them they’ll rot so try to curb over enthusiasm and plant a few more yourself as back up!
4. Spring onions can be planted straight into the garden, ours will be planted in a large container because the cats are over enthusiastic scratchers so I can’t start anything in the ground unless it is covered!

We’ll be showing you our plant a pizza progress as we go along so do pop back for regular updates. If you decide to grow one yourself we’d love to see how you get on!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post