{"id":180042,"date":"2025-04-10T08:17:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T08:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/recipes\/category-a-b\/budget-food\/lazy-budget-chef-19\/"},"modified":"2025-04-10T08:17:19","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T08:17:19","slug":"lazy-budget-chef-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042","title":{"rendered":"Lazy Budget Chef"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n With supply chain issues and higher prices, my husband and I wanted to grow
\n more than one lonely tomato plant and a couple of leeks this year.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n The first step was doing research through backyard gardeners who grow most,
\n if not all, of their own food. Why? Because they have a very good idea of
\n how many plants of x, y,z vegetable you should plant per person that
\n probably works a lot better than our current plan of \u201cyeah, sure toss a
\n couple of those plants in the cart. We\u2019ll figure out if it grows enough to
\n make more than one salad later.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n \"how<\/a>\n <\/div>\n


\n Self watering patio vegetable garden
\n BEFORE<\/span><\/b><\/i>
\n <\/center><\/p>\n

\n This season we are focusing on tomatoes since they were sometimes hard to
\n find last year, are easy to grow, and I can water bath can them. Most site
\n recommend growing 5 plants per person for most high yield vegetable plants
\n like beans and tomatoes to feed one person for a year. That really isn\u2019t our
\n goal and given our limited space we decided to plant an average of five
\n tomato plants since we want to grow some of the more expensive vegetables
\n from affordable seeds.\u00a0\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Now that we had an estimate of how many plants we want to add, it was time
\n to create a space plan for the garden expansion. Our home\u2019s allowable space
\n is our 6 foot by 10 foot back yard patio. We live in a freestanding condo.
\n We can\u2019t have anything in the middle of our lawns because the Homeowners
\n Association mows our grass which is one of the reasons we like living
\n here.\u00a0\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n After some measuring and some math, our best option for growing a lot of
\n food in a small container garden is to add a border of square\/rectangle
\n raised planters around the perimeter of the patio and plant them using
\n this exact square seed spacer template<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/span>. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links for your convenience.)<\/i>\n <\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\n We also bought
\n
\n <\/a><\/span>this exact round square foot gardening template<\/a><\/span> <\/b>to maximize the amount of peas, broccoli, bok choy, kohlrabi, and eggplant
\n we can plant in our original round self watering planters that were shuffled
\n into new places on the patio according to our garden space plan.\u00a0
\n <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n \"how<\/a>\n <\/div>\n

\n Self watering patio vegetable and herb garden AFTER<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I made more self watering herb planters from
\n <\/span><\/a><\/span>these galvanized steel buckets<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/b>to fill the thrift shop plant stand I bough last summer. All of the pots and
\n plants in our container gardening are self watering because I sometimes forget
\n plants need water to grow in between rainstorms.\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\n Gardening Tip:<\/b> Monitoring a simple
\n rain gauge like this one<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/span>
\n in your garden helps you know if you need to water your garden after a rain
\n storm. Any amount of rain less than two inches means your plant could use a
\n top up.\n <\/p>\n

\n I can get things to grow on the second shelf of the plant stand if I push
\n the top shelf pots back a little and move the middle and bottom plants
\n forward a little. Basically making it into a small space tiered plant stand
\n that uses less patio real estate than a
\n
\n tiered plant stand like this one<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span> To conserve water, we placed the
\n planters so the drainage holes on the upper shelves drain into the pots on
\n the lower shelves for lazy budget herb garden watering.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n \"how<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n I’m letting some of these plants bolt so they will reseed and grow as
\n volunteers next year. You can
\n read the How to make a self watering herb garden tutorial on my DIY
\n blog Condo Blues!<\/a><\/i>\n <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Originally I planned on building new self watering planters but after
\n crunching the numbers on the price of supplies using different plans and
\n supplies, it was cheaper to
\n buy these exact self watering planters<\/a><\/b><\/span>\u00a0<\/span> that allow me to set them
\n up in any configuration I need.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n \"DIY<\/a>\n <\/div>\n


\n (SINGING) Kohlrabi, broccoli, and peas to the left of me. Tomatoes to my
\n right. Stuck in the middle with you\u2026<\/i>
\n <\/center>
\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/center><\/p>\n

\n Later into our container garden building project, we had to replace a
\n leaking rain barrel. We chose
\n this exact rain barrel planter<\/a><\/span>\u00a0 <\/b>because it looks nice enough that we won\u2019t get any complaints (it\u2019s a big
\n planter with a drainage spigot \u2013 honest!) and gives us another planter for
\n container gardening.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n \"edible<\/a>\n <\/div>\n


\n We hope the oregano will eventually the back of the garden bed too. <\/i>
\n
<\/p>\n

\n I transplanted pot bound perennial herbs last year from the container
\n garden to the front yard instead of buying annual flowers. The golden
\n oregano is growing into the delicious ground cover\/living mulch I hoped
\n it would. The marjoram and sweet fennel are also thriving where no plant
\n has successfully lived before after trimming an overgrown tree. Finally
\n have a pie pumpkin experiment growing in a corner next to the new rain
\n barrel.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n Save this idea to your Pinterest Boards for later! Share it with your
\n friends!\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"how<\/a><\/div>\n


\n <\/center><\/center><\/div>\n

Pin Me!\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Looking for more square foot and small space gardening tools and ideas?
\n Check out the following options \u2013 and more! \u2013 below!\n <\/p>\n

Did you like this post? Get more like it by
\n subscribing to the Lazy Budget Chef RSS feed<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With supply chain issues and higher prices, my husband and I wanted to grow more than one lonely tomato plant and a couple of leeks this year.\u00a0\u00a0 The first step was doing research through backyard gardeners who grow most, if not all, of their own food. Why? Because they have a very good idea of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":180043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[141],"tags":[4995,2124,2902],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-180042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-budget-food","tag-budget","tag-chef","tag-lazy"],"yoast_head":"\nLazy Budget Chef - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lazy Budget Chef - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With supply chain issues and higher prices, my husband and I wanted to grow more than one lonely tomato plant and a couple of leeks this year.\u00a0\u00a0 The first step was doing research through backyard gardeners who grow most, if not all, of their own food. Why? Because they have a very good idea of […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-10T08:17:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/howtoorganizeacontainergarden.jpg2220style22margin-left201em20margin-right201em223.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"532\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Lazy Budget Chef\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-10T08:17:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042\"},\"wordCount\":858,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/howtoorganizeacontainergarden.jpg2220style22margin-left201em20margin-right201em223.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Budget\",\"Chef\",\"Lazy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Budget Food\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042\",\"name\":\"Lazy Budget Chef - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/howtoorganizeacontainergarden.jpg2220style22margin-left201em20margin-right201em223.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-10T08:17:19+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/howtoorganizeacontainergarden.jpg2220style22margin-left201em20margin-right201em223.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/howtoorganizeacontainergarden.jpg2220style22margin-left201em20margin-right201em223.jpeg\",\"width\":532,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lazy Budget Chef\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lazy Budget Chef - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lazy Budget Chef - Som2ny Network","og_description":"With supply chain issues and higher prices, my husband and I wanted to grow more than one lonely tomato plant and a couple of leeks this year.\u00a0\u00a0 The first step was doing research through backyard gardeners who grow most, if not all, of their own food. Why? Because they have a very good idea of […]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-04-10T08:17:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":532,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/howtoorganizeacontainergarden.jpg2220style22margin-left201em20margin-right201em223.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"Lazy Budget Chef","datePublished":"2025-04-10T08:17:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042"},"wordCount":858,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/howtoorganizeacontainergarden.jpg2220style22margin-left201em20margin-right201em223.jpeg","keywords":["Budget","Chef","Lazy"],"articleSection":["Budget Food"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042","name":"Lazy Budget Chef - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/howtoorganizeacontainergarden.jpg2220style22margin-left201em20margin-right201em223.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-04-10T08:17:19+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/howtoorganizeacontainergarden.jpg2220style22margin-left201em20margin-right201em223.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/howtoorganizeacontainergarden.jpg2220style22margin-left201em20margin-right201em223.jpeg","width":532,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=180042#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lazy Budget Chef"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=180042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/180043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=180042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=180042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=180042"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=180042"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=180042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}