Making homemade marinara sauce for your lasagna from fresh herbs and vegetables right out of the garden is a must in authentic Italian cuisine. Making a red sauce that is amazing comes from growing herbs and vegetables in your own backyard so you may pick them at their absolute ripest. Growing a Lasagna Garden in a Container is a great use of space and allows you to grow a themed garden even if you don’t have that huge backyard garden.

The tomato which is the star of the show is the Roma tomato and it grows amazingly well in a container garden. Romas are known for their thick pulp and hearty tomato flavor and they cook down very easily into a sauce. The main herbs found in traditional marinara sauce include basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, and garlic.

Here’s how to create a lasagna garden in a container:

Use a large container

Plant the tomato plant into the center of a large container – the bigger the better for this container garden. No smaller than 18 inches around or less than 10 gallons. Both tomatoes and basil can get to be big plants and are heavy nutrient feeders. Thyme and oregano are great to plant on the edges of the container as they will trail over and their root balls don’t spread out too much. Parsley can also grow larger if it has room to grow and it is best to plant between the oregano and thyme.

Plant garlic chives

Growing garlic is more on the difficult side of gardening. If it won’t grow in your area, then grow garlic chives instead. They have a great garlic flavor and their bright green stems give a pop of color in your sauce. The best part is that they can grow on the edge of the container very easily.

Use quality potting soil

The key to a successful lasagna garden is in the quality of the potting soil and the amendments you add to it. Amend the potting soil with compost, earthworm castings, plus bone meal as fertilizer so that they give your plants their much needed nutrients. Add this amended mixture every 3 weeks to the top of the container and water it in very well. When you first plant your lasagna garden, give your plants a long drink of water or until you see what coming out the bottom of the container. After you have watered the plants, grab a stick and stick it into the soil to see how far down the water went. You need the stick to be wet at least 6 inches deep, if not, keep watering!

Find sunlight

Make sure your lasagna garden is receiving at least six hours of sunlight a day. If needed, pull into in the shade if you have overly hot summers. I often will put my container gardens on wheels so I can roll them around the garden based on where the sun is at that part of the year.

Enjoy your lasagna garden and happy container gardening!