Gardening and Keto

(Rebecca Huggins) #1

I’m planning my garden for this year and planning to add broccoli and cauliflower. Any tips or advice on growing these new to my garden veggies? Also interested in what everyone is planning to grow this year.

Keto vegetable garden
#2

Brocolli is deceiving in its size! Plan accordingly.

I’m going to try spinach this year.

(Arlene) #3

Where do you live, as in what gardening zone are you in? Broccoli is easier to grow than cauliflower, at least for me. Cheddar cauliflower, however is a super delicious variety to plant if you want to give it a try. It grows orange! Best I’ve ever tasted. The aphids love broccoli so you may need to hose them off till they get big enough to fend for themselves. After a few days the ladybugs should start eating the aphids. Watch out for slugs too. I guess the critters love broccoli as much as we do. Plant a few different varieties in the spring and cold-hardy varieties in the late summer for a late fall crop. Hope this helps.

(Siobhan) #4

I would also be interested to know any interesting keto vegetables that people grow!
We (@rjhuggz / aka my mom) tried kholrabi last year and it was great and coming back this year.
I’ve also seen, I believe, @richard mention daikon which I think we’re trying this year.

Any berries/vegetables/etc that are keto friendly and can be grown here?

I’ve tried purple cauliflower, and fractal cauliflower, and some mix of cauliflower and broccoli (don’t remember what it was called) though we didn’t grow those.
We eat LOTS of broccoli/cauliflower so I hope she grows a lot :slight_smile:

EDIT: By here I mean northern Indiana.

(Rebecca Huggins) #5

I’m zone 5b. I have the purple and white cauliflower on my list, I’ll have to add the cheddar too. I’ve grown kale and cabbage and haven’t had trouble with aphids, I do have to keep them covered from the cabbage loopers.

(Rebecca Huggins) #6

Are you talking about spacing or harvest yield?

#7

Both I guess. I don’t have a lot of space to work with and broccoli takes up a good bit with such a small yield. It’s deliscious if you have the space.

(Rebecca Huggins) #8

Is 27 acres enough?
I’m not short on space 17 acres wooded, 10 acres pasture, I haven’t measured but I think the garden is about 1000 sq ft.

(Rebecca Huggins) #9

Spinach variety I like best is Nobel Giant.

(Jacquie) #10

We have quite a bit of acreage (106 acres) here in Nova Scotia near the Fundy shore. We’re zone 6a/b. The wooded area where we’ve made trails has wild blueberries (very tiny) and wild raspberries. We’ve grown cherry/grape tomatoes, cukes, spaghetti squash and lots of other veggies We have a large strawberry bed, too. There are hazelnut trees but no nuts yet. I’ve been too lazy to grow and wash baby greens but now that we have a greenhouse, I’m willing to give it a try. We also make lots of compost and have a large worm farm.

(Rebecca Huggins) #11

I’ve been looking at nut trees for shade for sheep in the pasture and nuts for us. I’m considering almond and pecan. We have quite a few black walnut trees, but I haven’t tackled trying to open those things up yet. I should, I hear they taste good.

(Jacquie) #12

Sounds good as long as you’re in the correct zone to grow them. What zone is northern Indiana?

(Rebecca Huggins) #13

My garden/farm is in southern Michigan and where I live in northern Indiana, both are zone 5b.

(Jacquie) #14

Will you grow a cold resistant variety? I’ll be interested to know if it works. Good luck! :slight_smile:

(Rebecca Huggins) #15

Yes, thank you

(Rhoda) #16

I agree cauliflower is more work to grow then broccoli. Remember when you cut the head of the broccoli off to leave the plant and it will grow more small heads you can harvest. Because of the deer and rabbits where I live I now grow in containers. You might try some new things in them.

(Jenn W) #17

I’m also zone 5b

My gardening catalogues are coming in and I’ve got spring fever! (Too early?)

Needless to say I’ve got to start planning what to grow this year. Obviously I want Keto friendly vegetables. Cauliflower and broccoli are the obvious but each year they have started great then bolted on me. I think I’ve been starting them too late. About when have you planted yours? And are you growing from seed?

I’ve got 4 square gardens, all raised beds 4*4. And room for more but this year I’m thinking I need to stick to what I’ve got.

(Carol Motsinger) #18

I’m new to gardening, I hope to grow some daikon if I can find the plants/seeds. I’m in zone 7, how soon can I start planting? I have made two small hoop houses to protect from late frost. So I will only have two raised bed areas to plant in. I will be following this forum in hopes of getting a plan in place for spring.

(Jacquie) #19

@earthmotherhealer We grow from seed. See my notes above for what we grow. :grinning: We’re just about to order our seeds. Love going through the catalogues.

(Jenn W) #20

I’ll try planting along with you this year maybe I’ll get my timing right this time! I grew lemon cucumber last year and they were delicious! Planning on more of them this year.