Quick Summary: An Italian kitchen garden needs tomatoes (paste, slicer, and cherry types), squash, beans, chicory, peppers, eggplant, kale, broccoli, onions, lettuce, and herbs like basil, oregano, and parsley. Grow in the ground or containers. Most Italian varieties thrive in US gardens with warm summers. Read time: 12 min | Experience level: Beginner to intermediate
Jump to: What Is an Italian Kitchen Garden? | Italian Varieties for Each Vegetable | FAQ
After years of growing row crops for the farmers’ markets, I decided to designate small plots on the farm for themed kitchen gardens to add a more aesthetic appeal and more specialty produce for our family. The Italian kitchen garden is the first themed garden I started, followed by the Mexican kitchen garden.
If you want to cook authentic Italian food, and grow the ingredients yourself, this guide will cover the 12 essential vegetables and herbs for an Italian kitchen garden, with specific variety recommendations you can find in US seed catalogs.
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What Is an Italian Kitchen Garden?
In the Mediterranean, including Italy, growing your own produce is much more a way of life than it is here in the USA.
Even in the Mediterranean urban areas, you’ll see small balconies crammed full of potted herbs, dwarf tomato plants, and small citrus trees!
It’s not surprising the Italians are so fond of their kitchen gardens (called l’orto). Cooking and eating together is a big part of Italian culture, and every nonna knows that homegrown veggies are far superior to watery supermarket tomatoes and sad wrinkled peppers imported from halfway across the world.
Although folks originally grew their ortos to save money and be able to provide for their family, nowadays it has become a way to maintain a much-needed connection with nature. Few things can beat walking outside and being able to pick the most amazing tomatoes from a plant that YOU grew.
So let’s get started, shall we? Below, I’ll outline 12 essential herbs and veggies to grow in your Italian kitchen garden if you want to be able to cook delicious Italian food year-round.
What Tomatoes Should I Grow for Italian Cooking?
For your Italian kitchen garden, I recommend growing at least one type of paste tomato, one type of salad tomato, and one type of slicer tomato. Between these three, you can prepare any of the popular Italian recipes.
Here are a few of my favorite ones that can be found in the US, either through catalogs or at a garden store. These cover the main uses of Italian tomatoes:
- San Marzano: for making sauces
- Principe Borghese: for drying
- Costoluto: for slicing and sandwiches
- Cuore di Bue (Oxheart): for salads and roasting
- Piennolo: cherry tomato, for winter storage
Hard to Find Varieties of Italian Sauce Varieties:
- Schiavone: heirloom brought to the USA from Sicily
- Re Umberto: has been around since 1878!
- Corbarino: traditionally for seafood dishes
- Pera d’Abruzzo: traditionally locally used for making passata
- Fiaschetto: was almost extinct, can still be difficult to find
Hard to Find Italian Slicer Varieties
- Rosa di Sorrento: pink beefsteak
- Camone: beautiful multicolored variety from Sardinia
- Datterino: “little date”, a wonderful little grape tomato
- Piccadilly: despite what its name suggests, it’s from Sicily!
You can check these seed catalogs for a good range of tomato varieties.
What Squash Varieties Work for Italian Dishes?
Squash is a staple in Italian cooking. Squash soup, squash risotto, squash-flavored gnocchi, fried or stuffed zucchini flowers… you can’t leave it out of your Italian kitchen garden.
For year-round squash enjoyment, try combining the following:
- Summer squash: also known as zucchini. Try ‘Cocozelle’
- Winter squash: try ‘Piena di Napoli’, a huge variety similar to butternut squash
Which Italian Bean Varieties Are Best?
Beans aren’t the first thing most people think of, but they’re essential to Italian cooking. A big part of Italian cuisine consists of old farmers’ dishes, which needed to be cheap and nutritious. Classics such as pasta e fagioli and minestrone go heavy on the legumes.
There are loads of Italian bean varieties to try, but here are a few of my favorites:
- Italian flat beans: great for sautéing. Try ‘Roma II’ for a bush variety.
- Cannellini beans: for your bean stews! Try ‘Impero Bianco’
- Borlotto beans: also called cranberry beans, these are white with pink speckles. Try ‘Borlotto di Vigevano’
- Fava beans: wonderful in salads. Try ‘Sciabola Verde’
What Is Chicory and How Do I Use It?
Chicory, another name for edible plants in the Cichorium genus, is used in Italian salads, soups, and even pasta. It’s often paired with beans, so I recommend growing both!
The two most popular choices are:
- Radicchio: reddish in color with a bitter flavor. Great for roasting! Try a variety called ‘Perseo’.
- Escarole: also known as broadleaf endive. Great for sautéing.
Which Peppers Are Traditional in Italian Cooking?
It’s peperonata time! This delicious sweet bell pepper stew with tomato is a classic Italian dish and a great example of why they’re so fond of peppers. Serve it as a side dish or or with some quality pasta.
Sweet peppers to grow in your Italian kitchen garden include:
- Marconi: very sweet with thin skin. Great for grilling.
- Carmen: a type of “corno di toro” or bull horn pepper. Perfect for stuffing.
Tip: If you like spicy peppers, try growing a cherry variety sold as peperone piccante calabrese (usually canned in oil). They’re perfect for stuffing with cream cheese as an appetizer.
What Eggplant Varieties Do Italians Grow?
Called melanzane in Italian, eggplant is an absolute classic. Who hasn’t heard of eggplant parm or pasta alla norma? This vegetable is silky and fantastic at soaking up flavor.
Italians have produced loads of different eggplant varieties:
- Violetta di Firenze: round purple fruits
- Lunga di Napoli: elongated and purple
- Rotonda Bianca Sfumata di Rosa: it’s a mouthful, but it means “round white tinged with pink” and that’s pretty accurate!
What Greens Belong in an Italian Garden? (covers kale, broccoli, lettuce)
Kale
Some Italian regions get very chilly in winter, and that calls for soups and stews! In Tuscany in particular, an unusual type of kale called Cavolo Nero (also called lacinato kale) is a staple for the cold months.
Try kale in minestrone, sausage and bean stew, or a classic peasant dish called ribollita.
Broccoli
Another great veggie typically enjoyed in Italy during the fall and winter months is broccoli. Pasta with broccoli (often with sausage) is a common cold weather comfort food, as is hearty broccoli soup (often with potato).
There are a few great Italian broccoli varieties to choose from:
- Calabrese: “regular” broccoli, which originated in Calabria, South Italy
- Di Cicco: produces a lot of small heads
- Di Rapa Novantina: a type of broccoli rabe, great for sautéing
Lettuce
Lettuce isn’t the star of traditional Italian dishes, but salads and sandwiches always include it. Some of the most well-known lettuce types are actually Italian in origin.
Try:
- Romaine lettuce: it’s called that as a reference to Rome, through which it first reached the rest of Europe from the Middle East. Try ‘Romana Bionda’ for your Caesar salads.
- Lollo lettuces: these super-ruffly Italian varieties come in red-and-green (‘Lollo Rosso’) and crisp green (‘Lollo Bionda’).
- Butterhead lettuce: known for its very tender texture. Try the red-tipped ‘Quatro Staggioni’.
Which Onion Varieties Work Best?
As in many cuisines, onions form the base for many Italian dishes. So many sauces, soups and stews start with the classic soffrito trio: onion, carrot, and celery.
You can’t miss some good onions in your Italian kitchen garden:
- Rossa Lunga de Firenze: an unusual elongated purple onion of particular sweetness
- Dorata di Parma: a fantastic yellow staple onion that stores very well
- Scallions: although these don’t really have a specific name, purple Italian scallions (cipollotti rossi) are fantastic
What Herbs Are Essential for Italian Cooking?
What’s an Italian kitchen garden without oregano? Or basil? Many Italian herbs are easy to grow, so don’t forget to plant them alongside the vegetables.
I recommend:
- Fennel: used in soups, salads, and more. Try Florentine fennel (finoccio di Firenze) or the smaller ‘Zefa Fino’.
- Flat leaf parsley: essential for gremolata, Italy’s answer to chimichurri! You can try ‘Gigante di Napoli’, which is considered particularly tasty.
- Basil: a caprese salad tastes a million times better with homegrown basil (and tomatoes—see the top of this post). Try ‘Genovese’, which is the classic sweet basil variety you’re probably used to.
- Leaf celery: native to the Mediterranean, herby-tasting leaf celery is used to add depth to soups, stews, and other hearty dishes.
- Oregano: typically used in Southern Italian cooking in any dish with tomatoes or with olive oil. What would your sauces or Neopolitan pizzas be without it?
What Can I Grow in Containers?
In Italy, it’s standard to see a jumble of pretty containers with edible plants all over people’s gardens, balconies, and decks. Plants in pots can easily be moved around and make a particularly good option for the smaller Italian kitchen garden.
Try the following:
- Bay tree
- Citrus trees (especially lemon)
- Rosemary
- Lavender
- Olive tree
Aside from these, many of the veggies and herbs discussed above can also be grown in containers. Tomatoes, peppers, and many Italian herbs adapt wonderfully to the potted life.
For a fruity note, you can also easily grow strawberries in containers. They are featured in many Italian desserts. I particularly like fragole al vino, a simple dish of strawberries macerated in red wine with sugar. Or maybe strawberry tiramisu?
FAQ
Three types: a paste tomato (San Marzano) for sauces, a slicer (Costoluto) for sandwiches and salads, and a cherry or plum type (Principe Borghese) for drying or roasting. With these three, you can make any Italian tomato dish.
Yes. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, herbs, and lettuce all grow well in pots. Use at least 5-gallon containers for tomatoes and peppers. Herbs thrive in smaller pots. Bay trees, citrus, rosemary, and lavender make excellent container focal points.
Baker Creek, Seeds from Italy, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, and Pinetree Garden Seeds carry Italian varieties. Some (Fiaschetto, Corbarino) are rare and may require searching specialty catalogs.
Beans. Direct sow after last frost, minimal care needed, and they fix nitrogen in the soil. Zucchini is also foolproof and highly productive.
No. A balcony with containers works. Prioritize tomatoes, basil, and peppers if space is limited. Add beans and squash if you have a small plot. The variety list scales to any space.
All of them, with proper timing. Start tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant indoors 8-10 weeks before last frost. Direct sow beans and squash after soil warms. Kale, broccoli, and chicory prefer cool weather and can extend into fall.
For recipes that make great use of these vegetables check out this Italian recipes category. For detailed and comprehensive information on starting your own Italian kitchen garden see this guide.
Wow! What an extensive article to motivate us the beginning of January!
Grazie Mille!
If I could speak Italian I would say “you’re welcome, and I hope it is useful to you”. Thanks for commenting!