Missing pasta? Try Italian veg instead

If you love Italian food, vegetables are a great substitute for pasta. If you miss lasagne, you can make eggplant parmesan instead. Spaghetti? Have some zucchini. No need to contort it into noodles--just slice and sauté it. 

Vegetables are even better when they're home-grown. The flavors are better than store-bought--smoky peppers; crisp, nutty zucchini; and tomatoes that don't taste like teddy bear stuffing. Skins, like the one on eggplant, are thin enough to eat. Anytime you want herbs, you can step out the door and snip what you need.  

All of the herbs and vegetables pictured are low-carb. Parsley is high in potassium and peppers are high in vitamin C.

Fall harvest from my garden. Not sold in stores.

If you have a sunny spot to grow a garden, mark your calendar now: it's not hard to grow vegetables, and especially herbs, but it takes planning. You can find your last average frost date online and work backwards on a calendar, or just ask an AI app to figure it out for you--but you might need to check its answer. 

Different varieties of plants work better in different climates. I live in central Indiana and these varieties work here; check with your ag university, county extension office, local library, or gardeners near you to find the best varieties for your area.

Eggplant: plant seeds indoors 10 weeks before your last frost date. If you plant it in a cool spot, you might need a heat mat until the seeds sprout. The one shown is Shooting Stars. 

Peppers: plant seeds indoors 4-6 weeks before your last frost date. These might also need a heat mat. Variety shown is gypsy peppers. 

Zucchini: after all danger of frost has passed, direct sow. 

Zucchini (fall crop): start in seed trays in a cool spot indoors in midsummer (I planted them in mid-August). Transplant them when they look big enough. The benefit of this second crop is that squash pests aren't active in late summer or fall. Variety shown: Italian ribbed.

Italian parsley: plant seeds indoors 6-12 weeks before last frost. Just a few plants will provide lots of parsley. I planted Northrup King seeds I bought at a big box store. 

Basil: I get Emerald Tower plants from Home Depot or Lowes. I like them because they don't go to seed. They have a great flavor; I use them with Italian parsley and oregano in my homemade marinara. 

Romaine lettuce (not shown): Plant in seed trays 6-8 weeks before last frost. For a fall crop, plant in seed trays in a cool spot indoors in midsummer (I planted them in mid-August). Set outside when they look big enough. Parris Island Cos will take a lot of summer heat. I protect lettuce with shade cloth over PVC tubing arches in summer.