How to plant a marinara garden for the freshest homemade sauce

The best tomato sauce starts before you turn on the stove.

Sure, you can buy jarred marinara sauce, but there’s nothing like the homemade thing — even better if you grow your own peak-season ingredients. 

“A fruit or vegetable tastes best at the moment it’s harvested,” says Frank Hyman, horticulturist, author of Ripe Tomato Revolution, and former organic tomato farmer. “So growing your own ingredients — rather than buying them — will provide you and your family with the best-tasting possible food.” 

Related: 9 Essential Tomato Sauces

Summer is prime time for tomatoes, which can be planted in late spring or early summer, based on geographical region. But why stop at tomatoes? Whether you have a big yard or a small balcony, you can grow all the makings of a marinara sauce for pizza or pasta, either in containers, a garden bed, or directly in the ground.

Depending on where you live, it might be too late to grow every element, but it’s a worthwhile project to bookmark for next year. Here, two garden experts weigh in on how to grow your own ingredients for your very own marinara sauce garden.

Choose the right variety of tomato

For marinara sauce, you want a tomato with less water and fewer seeds, says Hyman. Paste tomatoes fit the bill. 

“Paste tomato fruits have a pear or plum shape and will fit in or cover the palm of your hand,” says Hyman. “Slice one open on a cutting board and you’ll see the difference right away: juicy, but not watery; some seeds but not too many; lots of dense but juicy flesh. Two benefits [are a] much shorter cooking time and more tomatoey flavor.”

Charlie Nardozzi, garden expert and author of The Continuous Vegetable Gardener, recommends Roma, San Marzano, Amish Paste, and Speckled Roman varieties. If you’re growing in pots or have a small garden, “try determinate varieties that don’t grow large, such as Viva Italia and Little Napoli.”

Related: The Only Tomato You Should Use for Sauce, According to Chefs

How to grow every element of a marinara garden

Tomatoes

Tomatoes need a lot of sun and warmth to grow and thrive. “Sunlight is food for plants,” says Hyman. Before planting tomatoes, find an area in your landscape that gets plenty of sunshine throughout the day. “The more sun a tomato plant has — the absolute minimum is six to eight hours — the more sugars it can produce through the magic of photosynthesis,” says Hyman.

Water your tomatoes with a drip line or soaker hose, he adds, as watering with a hose or overhead sprinklers can get water on the leaves, which can lead to leaf diseases. “Lay it on the soil and cover the soil with mulch to keep the soil moisture from evaporating quickly.”

Tomatoes are classified into two types — determinate and indeterminate, which will guide you on whether to plant in pots or in a garden bed. “Grow dwarf or determinate tomato varieties in a large container and indeterminate varieties in the garden in raised beds,” says Nardozzi.

Related: 5 New ‘It’ Tomatoes to Look Out for This Summer

Hyman uses a 27-gallon tote for each tomato plant. “Be sure to drill a couple of 1/2-inch drainage holes in the side, near the bottom,” he says. If you’re growing a few plants, use a 50-gallon container.

Check your last frost date for your geographical region before planting. A frost could harm your plants by stunting their growth or killing them. Typically, you should plant tomatoes outside on your last frost date or up to two weeks later, says Nardozzi. 

Onions

Plan to plant onions from two to four weeks before tomatoes to align harvesting times, since onions can withstand the cold. “Generally, onions need about 12 to 16 weeks from planting to harvest, while tomatoes need 10 to 12 weeks to begin harvesting,” explains Hyman. 

When growing onions and tomatoes together, place them carefully to ensure your onion plants get sufficient sunlight. “Be sure to put the onions, which are short, to the south of the shade-casting, taller tomatoes so they will get full sun,” says Hyman.

Herbs

Interplanting herbs in and around your tomatoes can help ward off pests. Genovese basil grown next to tomatoes will save space and ward off the tomato hornworm, says Nardozzi. Plant oregano on the edge of a bed or container because it will cascade over the edge and won’t compete with your tomato plants, he adds. “Parsley can grow in part shade so it also makes a nice tomato companion.”  

Related: You’re Storing Basil Wrong — Here’s How to Keep It Fresh for a Week

Where to grow a marinara garden

All the ingredients for a marinara sauce can be grown together directly in the ground, in a garden bed, or in containers. “One can grow herbs and tomatoes in the same bed,” says Hyman. “Grow annuals like basil and biennials like parsley and onions in the same soil as tomatoes.” Another option, if space is limited, is to grow each plant in its own container but next to each other.

Related: How to Harvest Fresh Lettuce All Summer Long for Salads and BLTs

Tomatoes do best with quality, nutrient-rich soil. “The best potting soil is good-quality compost mixed with a few handfuls of organic fertilizer,” says Hyman. “The compost will provide lots of oxygen and micronutrients and will hold moisture well.”

It’s also possible that you may have to harvest ingredients at different times, based on how long each plant takes to grow, when you planted, geographical region, and timing. “Remember that vegetables mature at different times,” says Nardozzi. “While you can harvest herbs such as basil, oregano, and parsley all summer, onions mature in mid-summer, and paste tomatoes towards late summer and fall.” 

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