gardening re: the tariffs

A lot of people talking about gardening, and lots of posts with great information. I am a research entomologist - agriculture adjacent, but I don't work directly in ag. I am also an avid gardener. I like to eat.

What I have not seen is a discussion of plant types regarding the tariffs.

The tariffs (and the deportation/mass incarcerations) will not have uniform effects across produce. All produce (fresh/canned/frozen) (all crops/all varieties) is subject to price increases and supply issues, but some more likely than others.

Mechanically harvested crops, especially the ones grown domestically, should be the least impacted. This is most of the staples; grains, dry beans, cheaper potatoes.

Some people are thinking about growing these things, to get the best calorie return for their garden. Which might be a good idea. But these things are the most likely to remain available and relatively affordable. And if we reach the point where they are not then the problems are bigger and everything in this discussion is irrelevant.

But for most people you may be better off focusing on things that require hand picking, and/or are grown in Mexico (if only part of the year). Which is just about everything else. These things can improve morale, quality of life, and over all nutritional quality by providing vitamins and minerals absent in the staple crops.

This is almost everything else, so kinda take your pick (or sit down and serious plan for micro nutrients).

There is mechanical harvesting of tomatoes for sauce (and catsup, etc). But fresh tomatoes are more or less all hand picked, grown in Mexico at least part of the year. In a garden they produce a lot of fruit per square foot because they repeatedly fruit. All types can be canned or frozen. They are high on my list of suggestions. In my experience (and this is regional) pest problems are low compared to a lot of others. Cherry tomatoes can be extremely productive and resistant to blossom end rot. And even when they get blossom end rot, you clear it out faster and lose less fruit volume than with larger types.

Other things that repeatedly fruit are also usually good producers. Hard and soft squashes and cucumbers usually topping that list. Medium hard squashes like acorn and delecata often outproducing the hardest squashes). As well as green beans if your season is good for them. But look into the nutritional quality of these, they have good vitamins, but they are not calorie dense.

Peas also produce very well, and have more calories than green beans. But they have a shorter season. And tomorrow is February, if you've never planted peas before then you should already be learning about it if you want a crop this year. I'll be planting at the beginning of March. New England might not plant until early May.

Radish. Short season, a bit demanding for soil but other wise pretty easy.

Carrots, even densely packed, often cannot produce the same volume as the above, but they make up for it by being nutrient rich. I know carrots are mechanically harvested, but IDK if that's for fresh produce, or just processed. If you have more land and time than money, there is something to be said for growing a ridiculous amount of carrots.

Leafy greens. Yeah, everyone knows about leafy greens being good for you. But they have a short season, and you may not be ready to eat them when you see how many bugs and slugs you find on them. Don't lie to yourself.

The short season of greens (peas, others) can be made up for by having something to plant in that space. I put tomatoes in behind peas, this isn't a soil thing, it is just an issue of timing and the fact that I grow a lot of both.

Beets, like carrots, produce well enough, bring a lot of nutrients. They can be more temperamental than carrots (ok, a lot more).

Brassicas (cabbage and friends) and asparagus provide good nutrients, and a limited harvest per area. They are well worth growing if you like them. Also, how much do the aphids freak you out?

Jerusalem artichokes. Decent nutrients, easy to grow. You should absolutely have some of these at a bare minimum so that you will have tubers to plant in a future year if things get worse.

Napa and Bok Choi. Anything that makes a nice dense ball of leaves will have less bugs inside. These grow quick in the spring.

Daikon. Hey, if your root vegetables are 2 feet long you get more yield per area.

Perennials: fruit trees, strawberries, raspberries, etc. At the store? forget about it. Pick-your-own places might remain viable? Growing your own? It is late to start, but now is better than later. Read about Brown Marmorated Stink Bug and Spotted wing Drosophila and see if these are problems you can handle.

Nut trees? Knock your self out. Don't fall into the trap thinking a black walnut tree will be valuable (for the wood) in 20 years. 1: it won't. 2: black walnuts are technically edible, but disgusting (they're really not THAT bad, but they aren't good). Walnut husk fly? Gross, but not an actual problem. Consider hazelnuts.

Peanuts? Temperamental and demanding. Jimmy Carter was a nuclear scientist and extremely patient.

Grapes. Regionally dependent, but a lot more work than they seem.

Pawpaw. Might grow better in your yard than you would think. Not readily available to plant because a transplant has much more specific requirements than a more normal tree.

What's growing in the wild in your area? Plums? Whatever, find out, they'll be easier to grow in your yard than something not as adapted.

Honorable mentions:

Sweet corn. not amazing nutritionally, a bit temperamental to grow, and yield isn't impressive per square foot. Growing season is long enough that you can't do a second crop in the space unless you have a solid plan. Mostly requires fertilization. Growing area impossible to weed for about 50% of the season. "3 sisters" growing methods aren't as easy as they sound.

Onions are mechanically harvested, but as far as I know they are manually topped (tops cut off).

Fancy potatoes: They are amazing and delicious. They may have a wider range of nutrients, they probably don't store as well, and they are already expensive. A wonderful thing to grow, but not a high rank in the context of this post.

Sweet potatoes are mechanically harvested and less likely to be disrupted. But they are more nutrient rich than the other staple crops. You may be able to grow them even if you live in a region that doesn't normally grow them. This requires starting them very early indoors (grocery store sweet potatoes are fine as a starter) and transplanting the slips (baby plants) LARGE. The normal directions for cutting the slips down to tiny things to transplant has usually been a failure in my experience outside of the normal growing region.

Luffa. "free" sponges? Maybe useful. Also edible shoots. Some places have too short a growing season. I have a long enough growing season, but it is too hot in the summer and the plants stop producing (above 95F or so).

Hula hoe (stirrup hoe). If you have plants in the ground, and the area is more than 5 foot by 5 foot, I cannot recommend this tool enough for weeding. It honestly makes the gardening difference between a fun hobby and a desperate chore. With a hula hoe, hand weeding around dense seedlings like carrot or corn, and hand weeding for weeds that regrow from the root, I have no need for herbicides.

Edit: traps.

Just go ahead and make beer traps for slugs before you find out what the slugs are going to do to your garden. Cheap beer in an open mouth container. Cat food can, soup can. Mason jar. Anything with out too much scent. sugar+yeast+water instead of beer if you want. Cheap beer often works better than expensive beer. Leftover/dregs is fine, but probably not enough volume on its own.

I do traps for earwigs as well. But it takes oil, which is more expensive than beer. And fish oil works better than plant oil, and is stupid expensive. So I do plant oil (corn or canola) with a splash of fish oil. Earwigs are not a primary pest. But if their numbers are high they can completely destroy your seedlings. In the spring there just isn't as much alternative foods for them. I do earwig traps because I know they are a problem in my yard, and I know their populations are high after mild winters (which is all we have anymore).

Because the oil is expensive, I strain the earwigs out of it to reuse in the traps (catch numbers can be very high some springs). Straining rotting dead earwigs out of rancid oil is not for everyone.