The Keto Garden

Going keto seems like an enormous challenge to those who haven’t tried it, and the same is true for growing your own food. True, both do require discipline and significant will power in the beginning, but in the end it is just a new lifestyle that only brings more value into your life. Growing your own veggies is a great way to save money (if you grow the right crops), control your pesticide exposure, and get more nutritional value from your vegetables. The latter being very important to a ketogenic lifestyle, we want to be getting as much nutritional value from the few carbohydrates heavy foods that we do eat; and the mass produced fruits and veggies from the supermarket have about a 40% reduction in nutrients to their classic counterparts.

Even if you don’t have space for a large backyard garden, there are plenty of alternative options out there for small scale, or even indoor, gardens. Check out ideas like tower gardens, stack and grow, window garden shelves, patio gardens, mini greenhouses, or even garden controllers like the innovative hydromazing system for advanced indoor gardening.

The Best Plants to Grow by Net Carbs

Finding the right fruits and veggies to grow in a keto friendly garden has a lot to do with the level of carbs. I’ve listed some common and relatively easy to grow options below. They are grouped by approximatenet carb content per 100 grams.

Fewer Net Carbs

1.40 g Spinach
1.80 g Asparagus
1.80 g Lettuce
2.10 g Swiss Chard
2.10 g Zucchini
2.30 g Summer Squash

Moderate Net Carbs

2.70 g Tomatoes
3.00 g Cauliflower
3.00 g Eggplant
3.08 g Cucumbers
2.90 g Green Bell Peppers

Higher Net Carbs

3.50 g Cabbage
3.60 g Green Beans
3.80 g Okra
3.90 g Red Bell Peppers
4.20 g Jalapeno Peppers
4.40 g Broccoli
5.00 g Raspberries
5.10 g Yellow Bell Peppers
5.20 g Brussels Sprouts
5.22 g Kale

Very High Net Carbs

6.00 g Strawberries
6.50 g Pumpkin
6.70 g Rutabaga
6.80 g Carrot
7.20 g Beetroot
7.30 g Onion
7.60 g Watermelon

“Too” High (remember: keto is about quantity)

8.13 g Cantaloupe
8.24 g Honeydew
9.60 g Oranges
11.6 g Blueberries
11.6 g Apples
12.4 g Pears
16.9 g Grapes

Best Veggies for the Cost

Aside from which have the lowest net carbs, the next important factor when planning your garden is going to be what plants give you the highest yield for the least investment. The list below will give you an idea of which veggies will produce the best for you and possibly lower your cost at the supermarket (relative to what can grow in your region, of course).

Lettuce
Spinach
Swiss Chard
Bell Peppers
Squash
Zucchini
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Green Beans

Our Keto Garden of 2019

A Little About Us

Our OK Family is a personal blog run by a husband and wife team. Between us, we have the expertise of a microbiologist, a computer scientist, a writer, an editor, and years of parenting; and also years of failed financial management, failed weight management, poor health, and all the experience of getting out of that pit of despair.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind our awesome family of readers, that the articles we write are opinionated pieces, sharing our stories of what has worked for us, and that we hope will work for you too, but as with all things in life, this is something we cannot guarantee to you. And none of our content should be considered medical, financial, psychological, or other professional advise. If you are seeking this, then you will need to seek out an individual of the necessary profession to assist you, be that a medical practitioner, accountant, psychologist, therapist, or otherwise.

We share our words to help, and we truly hope that they do. As such we will always work to the best of our ability to provide you with the best and most accurate information we can, and will reserve the right to change an opinion or change the focus of our site as we learn and continue to share and grow with our community.

With love & respect,
Ryan and Michelle

The Keto Garden