If you planning on gardening in pots or raised beds this growing season, consider this discovery I found for keeping your soil cool and moist during the hottest dog days of summer–kiln dried pine bedding, often used as pet litter for small rodents. This stuff is amaze balls!
I’m using this stuff as a ground cover to insulate my vegetables and fruits to reduce the rapidity of evaporation and keep the roots cool during really hot days. Turns out it makes an excellent organic mulch, and slowly degrades into the soil to add a little beneficial acid to my typically alkaline soil.
If you’re planning on using sawdust or shavings for your own garden, I recommend that you be sure the shavings have been cooked in a kiln and or that you don’t allow the sawdust to settle into a crust, because it will form an impenetrable layer in which water can’t permeate.
If you’re looking to do a lot of pot gardening, the best summer fruits to grow in them are as follows:
Tomates (large)
Small Squash Varieties (large)
Strawberries
Eggplant
Okra
Peppers
Herbs
Collards
Kale
Brussel Sprouts
Peas and Beans
So what are you waiting for? Get growing!