Growing more flowers, fewer veggies

#1

I’ve been an avid vegetable gardener most of my life, and when going full keto, I’ve missed full-on veg gardening. It was hard enough giving up growing sweet corn and potatoes a number of years ago when going generic ‘low carb’, but now with ‘keto’ I grow even fewer items. Fewer tomatoes, no more winter squashes, beets, etc. Just too many carbs in them to consume regularly. And growing just kale and collards and the like is not very exciting.

But gardening, besides providing a regular source of movement, is satisfying to the soul. For many reasons, I miss having a large veg garden. I still grow zucchini, green beans, peppers, but this year I’ve concurrently switched to growing more annual flowers than ever before. You can’t eat them, but they are pretty, satisfying, and a new growing adventure.

Any other keto gardeners who have changed what they grow?

#2

Yes!
My gardening has changed so much. My veggie patch is mainly broccoli and cauliflower as well as silver beet. I have increased my asparagus beds but that is about it. I have blueberry bushes as well as raspberry canes and strawberries and over summer managed to freeze much of those where previously I would have eaten every last berry fresh. Yummy but carb overload!
Sadly, I produced about 25 Queensland Blue pumpkins this year - all have been gifted to friends.
Come summer I will probably concentrate on zucchini, lettuce and cucumbers.
Gardening is so good for the soul though.

(LeeAnn Brooks) #3

Actually, a good number of flowers are edible. Though finding accurate carb contents on them might be difficult.

(Brian) #4

Gardening has changed some. Lots of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, eggplant, squash, peppers, green beans okra, and tomatoes. And of course, some lettuce and cukes. That’s probably 75% of the garden. I will confess I did plant a few things from the naughty list… potatoes, peas, corn, lima beans, pumpkin and watermelon, even a tiny patch of carrots and beets, but only small bits of them. Mostly, that stuff is for when non-keto family come to visit and want something “good” out of our garden, typically for a holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas. We should have enough for that but not nearly enough to be eating any of those things all of the time. The beets, I want for pickled beets, which are what hard boiled eggs get soaked in to make “red beet eggs”, a favorite of this ol’ PA Dutch native. Don’t care much about the beets, but they make a good brine. Three days or so of soaking those eggs… mmm, mmm, good eats. Also hope to make some pickles out of those cucumbers, which have blossoms galore! (Had two little ones in our salad for supper this evening, along with the first picking of green beans!)

(Jan) #5

I wasn’t able to do it this year (ran out of time) but I’m planning on planting a whole bunch of corn! Some of those gorgeous-hued feed corns with the red, green, blue, orange etc kernels. Hoping my chickens and ducks will love them throughout the winter. (I need to get a grinder…) And I saw some really pretty jewelry at an art show a couple years ago made from multicolored kernels.

(Jane) #6

I have a HUGE vegetable garden and I modified it some this year for keto - more squash, green and wax beans and less corn. But I still grow corn and potaotes because they are sooo much better than store-bought!

I will save my carbs up for them and savor the treat. They are grown organically, with love, and I am going to enjoy them - with lots of butter!

My husband is below his goal weight on keto and I am less than 10 lbs from my goal so I might not have grown any starchy veggies this year if I had a lot more to lose. Wouldn’t want to sabotage my efforts.