My Pizza Garden - The Fennel Has Disappeared!

It is super hot today ... and what happened to my fennel?  When I went outside to water this morning, my little patch of fennel is nowhere to be found.  I think either the deer or the bunnies must have eaten it!  On the plus side, the herbs are rockin' - the oregano is thick and full of gorgeous purple blossoms, the basil is very fragrant and healthy, and the parsley is delicious.  (Why aren't the bunnies eating the parsley as they have in other years?)  I pulled out two hot pepper plants, but the rest seem to be doing okay.  I don't have any ripe tomatoes yet, but there are plenty of little green ones on the way.  I can't wait for some ripe tomatoes - I have a recipe for a Caprese Pizza, and am just waiting for some fresh, homegrown tomatoes so that I can give it a try.

Garlic and Basil Pizza Recipe

I finally had a few small bits of produce from my garden!  Today I used some fresh garlic and basil from my garden to make a very simple garlic and basil pizza.  Actually, it's so simple that it doesn't even deserve to be called a "recipe", but it was really fantastic.   Here's how I made it:

I used a premade crust from Armello's Italian Bakery in Vandergrift, PA.  I put the crust on a large cookie sheet, then spritzed it with about a tablespoon of olive oil.  I then spread about 3/4 cup of pizza sauce on top of the crust.  I cleaned two cloves of fresh garlic and sliced the garlic into very thin slices - I used a sharp knife, but I think a microplane or peeler would work better.  I picked some fresh basil, cleaned and julienned it and then sprinkled it on top.  (Next time I'll use a lot more basil.)  I then topped the pizza with about 1/2 cup of grated mozzarella cheese and about 1/4 cup of grated parmesan, and slid it into a 450 degree oven where it baked for about 8 minutes.

It was wonderful!

My Pizza Garden - Looks Like Trouble!

Uh oh!  All of a sudden my hot banana peppers look terrible, with withered yellow leaves and spots on the peppers.  I am heartbroken!  It probably has something to do with the weird orange bug I found hanging onto a drooping leaf.   I am planning to pull them tomorrow, after I find my heavy gloves that the bug can't get through.  The other "pizza crops" are doing well - I finally figured out what fennel looks like, and the basil is amazingly good.  I'm hoping things turn out okay with the tomatoes - they look very healthy right now, but a neighbor told me about a tomato fungus that is on its way and advised me to prespray.  My mother was a fantastic gardener and I wish that she was here to give me advice (and lots of help)! 

Pillsbury Refrigerated Thin Crust Pizza Dough ... With Hot Peppers

I always keep a tube of Pillsbury's refrigerated pizza dough in the refrigerator for a quick and easy pizza.  I usually buy the Classic crust, but this time opted for Thin Crust - it had good flavor, except that ... yes, I burnt it again.   Just as I was about to take the pizza out of the oven, the dog jumped over the fence and ran off down the street.  By the time we got back to the house, it was overdone.  (The photo is from the "good end".)

I had another little mishap with it, too - when I was unrolling it, one side of the crust stuck to my hand and I ended up sticking my fingers through it, which made a huge hole.  I patched it back together, but it was not as beautiful as I wanted it to be.

What I was really excited about was that I used the first banana pepper from my Pizza Garden to use as a topping!

For what it's worth, here's the recipe:

1 Tbsp. olive oil
One Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust (we used the Thin Crust)
1 cup of pizza sauce, or to taste (we used Mid's)
1 hot banana pepper, cleaned and sliced very thinly
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese, or a pizza blend (we used Organic Valley)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Prepare cookie sheet or pizza pan with a layer of olive oil.  Unroll crust and place on cookie sheet.  Spread pizza sauce over crust, decorate with sliced pepper, and top with grated cheese.  Bake for approximately 14 minutes and try to prevent your dog from running away while cooking.

Remove from oven and let cool for several minutes.  Slice and enjoy!

My Pizza Garden - After the Storm

We've had a week of rain and huge thunderstorms, with flooding and even hail!  I was worried about my garden, but it has fared pretty well.  On the left, I have sweet green peppers, hot and sweet banana peppers and eggplant.  On the right ... I don't exactly remember!  My markers blew away in one of the storms.  I know I planted fennel, onions, basil and parsley, but I don't even remember which one is the fennel!  If anything on the righthand side looks like fennel to you, please let me know!  I have tomatoes planted in another bed, and they also weathered the storms very well.

Planting a Pizza Garden

I think it would be fun to plant some seeds and have tiny pizzas pop out of the ground!  But ... that's not what I mean by a pizza garden.  Every year I play with a theme to my gardens - one year it was a salsa garden, another year a chili garden, and I always plant a salad garden because I eat salads every day in the summer.  I think about the ingredients I need to go into recipes for certain meals and plant herbs and vegetables to make those meals.

There are lots of ways to think about growing a pizza garden - I know I'm not planting wheat for a crust, so that's out!  That leaves sauce, herbs and spices and toppings.

To make the heirloom tomato pizza sauce recipe, I can grow the tomatoes, oregano and garlic.   Out of the nine ingredients in the salt-free pizza seasoning recipe, oregano (again), basil and maybe fennel seed are doable for me.  I've never tried to grow fennel before, but I'm going to experiment with it this year.  Toppings are the fun part - my favorite toppings on a traditional red sauced pizza are mushrooms, green and hot peppers and sliced olives; on white pizza, I like tomato, spinach and basil.  Out of those toppings, I will definitely grow green and several varieties of hot peppers.  I've been doing a little research about growing mushrooms, but haven't quite gotten brave enough.  If anybody has any hints, let me know!

So here's my plan: 

Tomatoes

• Roma or other meaty, Italian style tomato
• Heirloom variety for the outstanding flavor
• Celebrity or other salad tomato
• Variety of grape tomatoes

Herbs

• Greek oregano - I planted some a few years ago and it has now taken over my garden!
• Basil - both
• Fennel

Peppers

• Sweet Globe Peppers - both green and yellow varieties
• Banana Peppers - both hot and sweet banana
• Giant Marconi - huge chiles that I found at my local nursery (Mosside Greenhouse in Wall, PA)

Spinach

• A slow bolt variety, such as Burpee's Harmony Hybrid (spring and fall)
• New Zealand spinach - not a true spinach, but a decent substitute for hot summer weather
• Burpee's has a variety called "Salad Fresh" which sounds like it could be good for summer also and great for salads and toppings

Onions

• Sweet (like a Mayan or Vidalia type)
• Red
• Scallions

I'm going to do some planting this weekend!