Hevanston Gardens

04/12/2026

What's growing in Zone 6a (Midwest) in April.

04/12/2026

https://youtu.be/9sh_26gJB4Y?si=4JYeZM5qH38INEYZ
New Youtube Video Alert!

What I bought in April of Last Year and Two Part Comparison to see what lived and what didn't make it.

04/09/2026

Filling A Raised Garden Bed -CHEAP Option

Soil can cost a lot of money and when you are starting out can seem really expensive. Here is one way to fill a garden bed the easy way. There are many better ways to fill a garden bed but sometimes cost is a factor so here's a cheaper option. There's no wrong way. Do what you got to do.

Depending where you live visit a couple local stores that have gardening centers to compare prices if able. We went to a local Big Box Store and purchased bags of top soil(the cheapest one with no nutrients/fertilizer added) to fill the bed. We also purchased a few bags of garden soil/soil with nutrients and add a couple handfuls of that in the area you are planting your plants.

TWO TIPS
-If you have a backyard or are in a rural area you can also use sticks/branches/foliage lying around. My only concern is make sure the foliage you use hasn't been sprayed with anything and you are 100% certain of this.
- If you are using manure from horses make sure that where the horses live you are 100% sure there is nothing being sprayed near them, even in the fields that may be next to where they live. This tip is also if you live in farmland. Horse manure is fine usually, but if weedkiller is sprayed by a farmer it can drift and contaminate horse manure or nearby gardens. This can look like tomato plants that all their leaves will curl inward towards themself. If you want to test manure you are unsure of you can use it a potting soil for broad bean/pea and let it grow for a couple weeks to see if the plant is affected before putting into large garden area. A University page is linked below on how to do this if you need to.

Montana State University Soil Manure Test Instructions
https://www.montana.edu/extension/pesticides/reference/contamination.html

11/19/2025

Watch us try Rosemary Blooms for the First time!
Rosemary Flowers are editble and used as a garnish for salads or in baked goods. If they're purplish great but avoid any pink looking flowers on rosemary as that could be Bog Rosemary and something completely different and very NOT edible, the plants look similar except for coloring of the flowers. These had a light Rosemary taste and are blooming in November in Southern California, but Spring and Summer on mature plants in other gardening zones like the Midwest.

11/15/2025

Love this take on leaving Rudbeckia alone.

11/09/2025

This is at happens to radish in zone 10a when left to grow for the entire Summer. What's interesting is they didn't go to seed like radish in cooler zones to the absolute disappointment of my gardening partner.

11/09/2025

This is a radish that was never pulled and never went to seed. Pretty sure inedible. The goal was to eat the radish pods but the weather may have been too hot maybe not sure.
LA Garden

11/08/2025

This is my garden in Los Angeles and the basil is ginormous. While it was growing, we pinched off the top set of flowers and top set of leaves so when it continued to grow instead of one stem afterwards, there would be 2 stems, and then those 2 stems we would pinch off the top set of flowers, and then instead of 2 stems there would be 4 stems Etc. These type of plants I call "elevator plants) because each floor(set of leaves) is connected by a stem if left untouched and looks to me like an elevator. This plant was left to grow for a whole month and grow it did. Looking forward to putting our Midwest bed to sleep and popping over to LA to run some experiments in a new zone.

10/30/2025

How We Made Large Whiskey Barrel Planters and what it truly cost;

1. Bought a whiskey barrel off ebay for local pickup in WI : $60 plus 2 hour round trip travel
2. Bought supplies because I had NONE from Harbor Freight: $70 for a drill, drill bits and driver, screws, rachet straps, and hand saw(40 min round trip)
3. 1 hour cumulative drilling holes and securing metal straps, putting straps on, then cutting barrel in half(there was help from a very average strength man because apparently I destroy drill bits and sometimes you know when to hand the drill over to a more professional person, and that answer is two.
4. Trip to lowes for discounted open bags of soil $22 for 6 bags but only used 3 and 40 min time
Total cost: $131 + 4 hr 10 min time + gas + 16 hr constant subconscious anxiety

Would I do again? ABSOLUTELY! you see these!!! But now I need two trellis so any tips appreciated for these blackberries

09/22/2025

You won't find Egyptian Walking Onions in your local grocery store but they are legit top 5 plants of all time for me. The first photo show the little onion bulbs I harvested a few weeks ago(peeled and stuffed in freezer for soups, stews etc.) and the second photo is all the baby bulbs coming up and laying down roots for next year. This is them beginning their second cycle of life which I won't touch since I massacre this little patch with sales and harvesting so much they need a break.
-Never ending supply of green tops that look like green onion but have full onion taste
-Prolific as zuccini in season but year round.
-Can eat the greens when small and the bulbs when big
-Never have to water if I don't want to left them for a whole year
-The perfect plant for Chicago/Zone 5/6
-Spead but spread on the surface of the ground not underground like mint
-Feel like going offgrid or faking your own death? This is the plant to bring with.