There is just absolutely nothing that compares to lasagna made from all fresh ingredients, especially if you’ve grown those ingredients yourself. Yes, there are frozen options for this Italian staple, and you can always purchase the ingredients if you are making it by scratch…though the level of personal satisfaction, the “wow” factor with your dinner guests and family, as well as the elevated flavor profile can only be achieved through nurturing your own personal lasagna garden.
You think you’ll have too much? It’s quite common to grow too much, but it is always better to have too much than too little. Planning ahead will help you to more closely determine how many of which plants to grow. A little bit of online research can help you to understand the yield for various plants, especially the tomato plants. That being said, if you are going to grow enough for lasagna, then you should grow enough for canning, so you can have your special, home-made lasagna whenever the mood strikes you.
By far, tomatoes will be the primary ingredient. You will need crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste. You should know that not all tomatoes are created equal, but if you already have favorites, by all means, grow away! However, if you are a novice gardener who does not have a lot of experience, knowing which tomatoes are best for making these ingredients will help.
Tomato plants come in 2 types: those that produce all of their tomatoes at one time (Determinate), usually over a period of a few weeks, and those that produce their tomatoes throughout the season (Indeterminate). Determinate tomatoes are by far the better choice if you plan to make big batches of crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste, all at one time. If you prefer to make smaller batches over the season, an Indeterminate tomato variety will suit you better.
Garden Ingredients for Home-Made, From Scratch Lasagna
Tomatoes: When choosing tomato plants, look for those that bear fruit that is disease resistant, resistant to cracking, and if you live in a warmer climate, those that are tolerant of high temperatures. You should always use tomatoes that are blemish free and not overly ripe.
Here are some suggestions for sauce or canning tomatoes:
- Mariana (Determinate)—an early-maturing Roma tomato variety that ripens uniformly, is meaty, and heat-tolerant, producing 4- to 5-oz fruit.
- Picus (Determinate)—produces large, 4-oz., blocky Roma tomatoes that are firm and flavorful, and is heat-tolerant.
- Rutgers (Determinate)—has high yields of 12-to 14-oz tomatoes that are thick-fleshed, tasty, and disease-resistant. This is one of our top tomatoes chosen specifically for canning.
- San Marzano (Indeterminate)—is the tomato chosen most often by high end chefs, considered to be the best tomato for making sauces or pastes. It is believed that this heirloom tomato originated in Italy.
Garlic: There are two types of garlic—soft neck and hard neck. The “neck” is the stalk that grows up from the bulb itself. Soft neck garlic has only leaves, while hard neck garlic has a stalk that dries when it is mature. This stem is edible, called a garlic scape, and is often used in the kitchen to impart a mild, peppery flavor; it can also be pickled. Typically, hard neck varieties have more complex flavors than soft neck garlic varieties. You can grow garlic from seeds or from bulbs.
Why do you want to grow your own? Because, usually, the garlic you purchase in the grocery store is already old. Soft neck garlic, which is almost always the one prepackaged at the store, has a long shelf life. Because of that fact, it can be stored for a longer period of time but will also be even more mild than what it would be if fresh, as the flavor diminishes over time.
Here are some suggestions for home-grown garlic:
- Elephant Garlic (Soft Neck)—gives you more bang for your buck, so to speak. The bulbs can be up to 4-inches wide and 3-inches long, weighing up to 1-pound. It has a very mild flavor, some people eating it raw, right from the garden. Due to its mild flavor you can use Elephant Garlic raw in salads or on sandwiches.
- German White Garlic (Hard Neck)—produces larger than average bulbs. This popular variety has a bit of a zing when eaten raw but is milder when cooked. Experts say this is the best fresh garlic with which to make garlic bread.
- Music Garlic (Hard Neck)—also produces larger than average bulbs, with each one averaging 4 to 6 cloves per bulb. Music Garlic is also considered one of the easiest to peel, being covered in white, but exposing a delicious shade of pink once peeled. Many consider this a gourmet variety, its cloves having long-lasting, medium-hot flavor. Its scapes are known to grow up to 4-feet tall.
Onion: You have choices when it comes to growing onions and it pretty much comes down to personal taste and how you will put them to use. Red, yellow, white…oh my! How to choose. Truthfully, all onions are interchangeable, though white are generally used for garnishing and Mexican dishes, yellow for cooking, and red for everything from grilling, to raw in salads, and pickling. When planning your garden, as you’ll likely be curing and storing your onions for future use, plan on 20 to 25 plants per person in your family.
Depending upon where you live, you will also want to know the difference between short-day, intermediate, and long-day onions:
- Short-Day Onions—tend to be sweeter and are considered the best for cooking and more versatile for culinary uses. These onions, however, should be planted south of Missouri, or the bulbs will start forming before the leaves and roots have fully developed-not a good thing. Plant sets or seeds in the fall.
- Intermediate-Day Onions—are also known as day-neutral onions. These grow best in the central states, though intermediate day onions can be grown just about anywhere. They will typically start to form bulbs in early summer. You can plant these as soon as the danger of frost has passed and the ground can be worked.
- Long-Day Onions—should be grown north of the line extending from Nevada to Virginia, these states having 14 to 16 hours of daylight during the growing season. Plant long-day onions in the early spring if planting sets, but in late fall if growing from seeds. You can also start them from seeds indoors during the winter, possibly resulting in stronger growth in the spring.
An interesting fact: The number of leaves above ground will match the number of rings in the onion. This is why choosing the type of onion best grown in your area is important. You do not want the bulbs forming before the leaves have started growing or have not finished growing.
Some of our favorite onions for home-grown gardens:
- Copra Onion (Long-Day)—is considered one of the best for long-time storage. It has a slightly pungent, sweet flavor and is moderately sized. Copra will even grow well in salty soils.
- Red Candy Apple Onion (Intermediate-Day)—is relatively easy to grow, in most areas of the country. These jumbo onions are said to be so mild and sweet that you can eat them just like an apple, right from the garden.
- Red Wing (Long-Day)—is a hybrid, considered by many to be the best onion for northern gardens. Its bulbs are firm and can be stored for longer than many red varieties.
- Texas 1015Y Super Sweet (Short-Day)—produces exceptionally large bulbs that are extremely sweet. This variety is also quite disease resistant and can be stored for 3 to 4 months. It’s said that this one will not make you cry when slicing.
Herbs: Purchasing herbs, fresh or dried, at the grocery store can be expensive. Unless preparing food in large quantities, there will always be more than you can use at one time. This is especially wasteful if you buy certain fresh herbs. You will also be using these same herbs in any number of your culinary masterpieces. You can dry or freeze them for future use if you have too much. Fresh herbs also make great gifts for a new neighbor, house warming, or just because…for friends and family.
Parsley: When it comes to parsley, you may want to grow more than one variety. Some are really beautiful and are perfect for garnishes, while others are meant to be chopped and used in when cooking.
There are many types of parsley, but the following are the two most common:
- Triple Curled Parsley—is often used as a garnish due to its fancy appearance, but also adds excellent flavor. All parts of this plant are used as a culinary herb or medicinally. This parsley is well-suited to container gardening as it grows more compactly than flat leaf varieties.
- Flat Leaf Parsley—has a more pungent flavor than curly-leaf parsley and also has a slightly nuttier flavor. Considered the best for cooking, both its flavor and texture hold up better. The bonus? This is a host plant for the Black and Anise Swallowtail butterfly.
Basil: This is one of the more aromatic herbs. In addition to its culinary uses, Medical News Today touts its benefits, which include: reducing oxidative stress, fighting chronic diseases, such as cancer and heart disease, protecting against aging skin, and supporting liver health.
There are a number of different types of basil, all of which are suitable for use in creating various cultural dishes. Here are just a few:
- Italian Large Leaf Basil—has large, oval-shaped, slightly ruffled leaves and is bright green. This sweet, slightly spicy basil has hints of anise and mint.
- Mammoth Basil—lives up to its name, producing leaves large enough to be used as wraps. It is also widely used for sauces and pesto, as well as on sandwiches. It is not quite as sweet as other basil varieties.
- Genovese Basil—is said to make the best pesto. Its leaves are slightly wrinkled and toothed, with a spicy flavor and scent.
Fennel: Many from-scratch lasagna recipes call for fennel seeds. Be sure to purchase the perennial herbaceous herb, rather than the annual bulb fennel, which is used in the kitchen as a vegetable, unless you want to grow both. Fennel is one of the more attractive herbs, its fronds are often used for garnishes and chopped to add to salads, as well as for flavoring pasta and fish recipes.
Be sure to purchase a variety that goes to seed easily:
- Bronze Fennel—is a pretty, ornamental, hybrid variety grown for both its fronds and seeds. Its leaves are very aromatic, and its seeds and leaves are commonly used in the kitchen.
- Giant Anise Fennel—is a large plant, sometimes achieving heights of 6 to 10-feet. Its clusters of yellow blossoms not only attract pollinators but will produce lots of seeds. The plant itself has a somewhat strong, licorice-like fragrance.
- Smokey Bronze—is a hybrid variety with fronds that are bronzy-brown with a distinctive smoky flavor. It is ornamentally beautiful, growing up to 3-feet, and is a reliable seed producer.
There you have it—all of the fresh ingredients to make the very best, most flavorful lasagna! But…you may not want to stop there! No lasagna dinner is complete without a fantastic opening act—the salad. You can, of course, use all of the lasagna garden ingredients in your salad, however, no salad is complete without lettuce. You will want to grow a couple of different varieties of lettuce, both for flavor and color. The typical Italian salad will also have olives (though growing an olive tree may not be an option) and are best made with grape or cherry tomatoes, halved (you may want to add a couple of these tomato plants to your garden). Don’t forget the garlicky croutons!
We would absolutely love if you would share photos and insights about your lasagna garden. In fact, if you have a must-have recipe, you are welcome to share it here.
