Low Carb Vegetable Garden

[neuronaut]

In Kentucky, where I live, it's still a few months until planting time. I wanted to get this thread going now so that I'd have plenty of ideas when spring roles around. I live in the suburbs and have a small garden in my back yard. It's not real big but does produce a lot of vegetables.

Usually, I raise asparagus, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and peppers. Occasionally I throw in radishes & herbs between larger plants. Each year I like to try at least one or two new things to see how they work out. For example, one year, we successfully grew lots of brussel sprouts. We struggled with what to do with our bumper crop of brussel sprouts... there's so few recipes out there.

One of my favorite garden veggies is zucchini and it is well suited for all kinds of low carb dishes. It is extremely easy to grow. One or two mounds produces more than my wife and I can eat.

I'm mostly wondering about tomatoes. Garden tomatoes are a thousand times better than store bought. They are bursting with flavor. I have read that yellow tomatoes are lower in carbs than red. But, if you take into account heirloom varieties, there are thousands of possibilities. Each type varies in acidity and sweetness. Since all garden tomatoes seem much more favorable than store bought, I can't help but wonder if most garden varieties are higher in carbs. Does anyone know where to get nutrition info regarding specific varieties of tomatoes?

I am also curious to hear your ideas on what else to grow. Since I am now doing low-carb, I'll likely not plant as many tomatoes this year. This opens up space for trying new things. Any ideas?

[Ammy]

There's always green beans, and since you can grow them "up" they don't take too much space...:D

RECIPES FOR BRUSSEL SPROUTS???:eek: We always grow brussel sprouts...
Recipe: be sure to remove the outer layers so you are only cooking the tight ball...steam them...add nothing...eat them like candy...
BE SURE to remove the outer layers that make them 'painful' to eat.

This is a link to one woman's opinion on the differences in tomato carbs.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art906.asp

I'm such a fan of sweet 100s it's all I grow...

[Ammy]

Cauliflower would be another good one...
We tried it one year and instead of white heads, we had deformed alien-like PURPLE ones...we decided our soil must not be right!

Hey what about Beets?? We grew some last year, and without knowing it we discovered they were actually WHITE beets...best beets I've EVER had!! Make sure you pick all your beets young so their sweeter!

[Gaelen]

All the basic herbs (sage, thyme, savory, dill, chives, mint, basil, parsley, rosemary)
onions
garlic
spaghetti squash
tomatoes--I would grow them regardless; they are NOT a 'high carb' veggie
pumpkins
acorn squash
patty pan squash
beets, yes by all means!
carrots
at least three varieties of hot peppers--usually jalapenos, a generic long skinny chile and poblanos
and peas, or at least snow peas!
and greens--mixed lettuces, with new rows coming up every couple weeks, and swiss chard, either white-stemmed or rainbow

[jkmfrog]

kale? has anyone mentioned Kale and all the green leafy veggies? My favorites were snow peas, cucumbers and green/yellow wax beans. I would train the snow peas up a trellis so they were easier to pick. I'd love to try growing diakon radishes or some of the asian veggies I've bought in stores. My local asian mart sells seed packets...

[Gaelen]

jkmfrog, I've never tried kale--always mean to, but I've got a *really* tiny space for the greens, and the swiss chard is so prolific and tasty that I've just stuck with it. Maybe this year...hmm...;)

[akcynth]

How do you fix your Swiss Chard? I grew it for the first time last year and loved the way it looked and grew, but I haven't much experience with preparing it...

[ladydoc442]

RECIPES FOR BRUSSEL SPROUTS???:eek: We always grow brussel sprouts...
Recipe: be sure to remove the outer layers so you are only cooking the tight ball...steam them...add nothing...eat them like candy...
BE SURE to remove the outer layers that make them 'painful' to eat.



Amy - have you ever tried roasting them? They are FABULOUS that way! Just spread 'em out on a cookie sheet (one with sides, so they don't roll off), drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkle with fresh ground salt & black pepper and roast at 450 degrees. I roast them until I can smell 'em - then I know they're done. Insides are all nice and soft and the outer leaves get all crispy. I'll never eat a steamed brussel sprout again :) .

Have a wonderful vacation, and try and avoid the "carbtastrophies" that are sure to be lurking (alcohol, munchies, etc.). Cancun has some fabulous fresh seafood to dine on instead. ENJOY!

Deb

[ladydoc442]

How do you fix your Swiss Chard? I grew it for the first time last year and loved the way it looked and grew, but I haven't much experience with preparing it...

I made Swiss Chard all the time. If you like its bitterness, just saute in a pan with some olive oil & crushed red pepper flakes (I like it spicy). It'll wilt down just like spinach does. If you don't like a bitter taste, you can blanch it for a couple seconds in boiling water, then saute it. I've made it steamed, but it's not as flavorful as sauteeing. And I take every opportunity to add olive oil to my diet!

Good luck - let me know how you like it!

Deb

[mepc06]

Roasted Brussels sprouts....I'll have to try that, I do like them, but never though about roasting.

I did grilled asparagus a couple of weeks ago....it was delish....sprayed with canola oil pan spray throw on the grill...I'll never boil them again.....I'd love to plant some though that I can pick myself and am toying with the idea.

I have a HUGE yard and I love to garden. I'm doing pole beans this year over one of my arbors, the other will have the grapes. There is nothing better than a freshly picked tomato I agree and will plant several of those this year. I plant zucchini, yellow squash and cucumbers. This year I'm going to try growing them so they grow upwards like the beans....take less space....
I have dill, chives, rosemary, thyme, basil and oregano in my herb garden.

I'm putting in a new "pot" garden this year and I'm going to try green chilies, it's also where I'm putting my lettuce, spinach and tomatoes this year.

I also have raspberries and rhubarb,I'm going to add dwarf blueberries this year to that section.

I have a native Plum and cherry tree as well, this year I'm going to add a peach and apple tree. My Dad has cherry and apple at his house as well.

I've only been at this house for 2 summers, so I'm still getting things established...there is nothing better than going out your back door to "shop" for produce.

Michelle

[Dodger]

Michelle,

There is some great information on growing blueberries in Colorado on the CSU site (http://www.specialtycrops.colostate.edu/scp_exp_demo/blueberries.htm).

[mepc06]

Thanks Dodger, when the weather warms up I'll start looking for them....BlueGold looks like a winner.
Michelle

[Gaelen]

okay, it's 25 degrees F. right now, with a wind chill of 13 degrees, we got an inch of snow last night and I watched a lacrosse game yesterday afternoon in a snowstorm. I'm afraid that my daffodils, which typically are like cast iron, may have actually frozen this last week. :( According to the long range forecast (granted, basically a wild guess, but still...) there won't be any sign(s) of spring for another week or so, and then only barely warming up to the low 40s. arrghhh! Someone remind me about this week in August when I'm whining about the heat and humidity!

[neuronaut]

Since I started this thread, I thought I'd give an update... This weekend, I got my vegetable garden planted. We included many tomatoes even though we'll only be able to eat large quantities on our carb-up days (every other weekend). Many of my tomatoes will get pickled before ripening. These will have far fewer carbs as the sugar count is quite low. According to my carb-counter guide book, the yellow tomatoes are supposed to have half of the carbs. But since there are so many varities of red and yellow, I don't really know if this applies to the flavorful "lemon boys" that I planted. And I have no idea how many carbs are in the striped and ripe green ones. I am hoping that someone reading this can tell me the carb counts for different varieties of tomatoes.

I am also expecting a huge crop of zucchini which is excellent for low-carb cooking. And, we are trying tomatillos this year. I've never planted these and have only used them to make one thing, PJ's Divine low-carb chili verde (http://thedivinelowcarb.blogspot.com/2006/10/chili-verde-meat-supreme.html), which is awesome. I am hoping the tomatillos do well so that I can do some experimenting in the kitchen.

I always plant basil next to my tomatoes. Basil, when blooming keeps away most of the insects that would normally attack my tomatoes and asparagus. This beats the heck out of seven dust. Basil therefore is a wonderful companion crop as well as an excellent edible herb.

The following is what we've planted so far:

2 better boy tomatoes
1 lemon boy tomatoes
1 outhouse cherry tomato, red heirloom, 1/2 inch
1 mister stripey, red & yellow stripes
1 druzba, Bulgarian heirloom
1 (forgot the name) ripens green heirloom
1 red ox-heart heirloom
2 tomatillos
9 bell peppers
1 jalapano pepper
1 chili pepper
1 tabasco peppers
1 mound pickling cucumbers
1 mound normal cucumbers
1 large mound zucchini
small patch of yellow wax beans
asparagus (comes up every year)
basil (to keep bugs off other plants)I'd like to plant a few more varieties of peppers. I will also be planting some parsley (last years didn't come back this spring). If any of you have ideas of low carb veggies to plant, please speak up. I am primarily interested only in growing items that either taste much better than store bought or that are quite expensive at the store.


My blog entry on this subject: Gardening (http://lowcarbohydrate.blogspot.com/2007/04/gardening.html)

[Gaelen]

Neuronaut, any herb is worth planting...they thrive like weeds with minimal care, and they are far better than anything that you can buy in the store. They are better for perking up fresh cooked foods, making marinades and even putting in salads. I'd use some of that basil for pesto, make sure there's plenty of parsley, and make sure that you put in some chives and some thyme--two herbs that are really easy to incorporate into your cooking and which thrive.

Tomatillos are wonderful for salsa (and you might want to put in some cilantro in that herb garden--cilantro is ridiculously expensive in the store unless you have an Asian market nearby.) Cilantro will be wonderful with chicken and fish and the fresh veggies...

As for the carb count of tomatoes, I honestly wouldn't give it another thought. According to Nutrition Data (the USDA site) a CUP of cherry tomatoes has 7g carbs. I cup of green raw tomatoes (180g) has 7g ECC, and a cup of chopped raw red tomatoes (180g) in season only has 6g ECC.

Not sure where the idea comes from that tomatoes are not a 'low carb vegetable,' but ounce for ounce, they are a fine carb bargain. And the truly fresh ones are only in season for half the year, at best--so enjoy them!