Too Hot To Work In The Garden?

Savvy_Sue

Slinky said:

I'm quite enjoying working evenings in the garden at the moment. 

I did that last Sunday. Got back from a week away and spent an hour watering. Then made the mistake of doing a little weeding. 

Came in with 6 insect bites. Tuesday I took advantage of the Pharmacy First scheme, which allows a pharmacist to treat infected bites with antibiotics. Course finishes tomorrow but I'm not sure it's enough. Bites still very red and angry, legs also red and hot over a large area.

So that's me done with gardening until it cools down.

Dustyevsky

Some with large 'gardens' to tend have no option. We had 2 fields of hay to be harvested. The guys who cut and bale it are out all year, regardless of the weather. Often, they're still working at 22.00, especially if the weather's due to turn.

For the rest of us, it's a matter of modifying our hours to suit. Plenty of daylight out there at present. The will to get up and use it might not be there, though!

Cheslea2010

KajiKita said:

It’s very hot to work outside atm. 

Possible tactics:
- Get up early and get started before the heat builds. Mr KK and I were outside at 5am today - him concreting a path and me weeding (in solidarity with him 😉). He’s desperate to get the new paths and paving done before autumn. 
- Avoid working between 11am and 2pm to avoid the worst of the UV. 
- Try to follow the shade round. 

- Pay someone else to do it! 😉

KK

"Pay someone else to do it" was the only option I found palatable there 

subjecttocontract

The other alternative option is to do nothing, which is what my next door neighbour does.

* She get someone to 'weed' her drive once a year (once the weeds are 6-8inches long),
* Gets the grass cut every 2 weeks.
* ....and the rest she just leaves to get on with it while she gets busy doing other things that interest her.

The only time she ventures out into her garden is to hang out the washing.......but, needless to say, she doesn't have a problem with it being to hot to garden.

Dizzycap

subjecttocontract said:

Sometimes my day consists of finishing the gardening by 10am, return indoors for breakfast and then sunbathe between 11am - 1.30pm, followed by watching tennis in the afternoon. It's a hard life but someone has to do it !

Love it!         

Slinky

Savvy_Sue said:

Slinky said:

I'm quite enjoying working evenings in the garden at the moment. 

I did that last Sunday. Got back from a week away and spent an hour watering. Then made the mistake of doing a little weeding. 

Came in with 6 insect bites. Tuesday I took advantage of the Pharmacy First scheme, which allows a pharmacist to treat infected bites with antibiotics. Course finishes tomorrow but I'm not sure it's enough. Bites still very red and angry, legs also red and hot over a large area.

So that's me done with gardening until it cools down.

Ditto. I came back from Italy with a couple of bad bites, one on my ankle that made walking difficult. Pharmacist prescribed 4 days of penicilen which didn't exactly agree with my stomach, shall I say. Course finished and now I've got two more horrendous bites on my left leg, I think I either got in the garden or at my voluntary job where there were biting flies. You'd think my system would be able to fight off the problem with the second lot of bites, but it doesn't appear to be the case.

greenbee

None of my neighbours seem to think it's too hot - (stinky, noisy) petrol-powered chainsaws and strimmers going at the back, and fence panels being replaced along one boundary (they came round this side to make some adjustments just after midday). 

I've been in and out working on my irrigation system in the veg plot as I'm expecting a new solar pump to arrive shortly and need to rearrange the network of soaker hose to be a bit more efficient. Finding ends and removing plugs in this heat has been hard work, and I'm about halfway round with nothing reconnected! I'm also weeding as I go. 

subjecttocontract

Surely if you weed & tidy your garden every day then when we get a 2 or 3 day heatwave you can easily leave it, do nothing and wait until it's cooler ?

twopenny

Love the covering photo for this on the front page 😍
Just brilliant!

Btw, we have a breeze today which is sapping moisture from leaves. Just as bad as the heat.
Remember to check.

Today's purchase. Anti rat, anti pigeon and toileting cat .
Water the plants at the same time 🙂

Savvy_Sue

Slinky said:

Savvy_Sue said:

Slinky said:

I'm quite enjoying working evenings in the garden at the moment. 

I did that last Sunday. Got back from a week away and spent an hour watering. Then made the mistake of doing a little weeding. 

Came in with 6 insect bites. Tuesday I took advantage of the Pharmacy First scheme, which allows a pharmacist to treat infected bites with antibiotics. Course finishes tomorrow but I'm not sure it's enough. Bites still very red and angry, legs also red and hot over a large area.

So that's me done with gardening until it cools down.

Ditto. I came back from Italy with a couple of bad bites, one on my ankle that made walking difficult. Pharmacist prescribed 4 days of penicilen which didn't exactly agree with my stomach, shall I say. Course finished and now I've got two more horrendous bites on my left leg, I think I either got in the garden or at my voluntary job where there were biting flies. You'd think my system would be able to fight off the problem with the second lot of bites, but it doesn't appear to be the case.

A pharmacist in Spain once sold me what she called 'magic cream' - a combination of antihistamine and 1% hydrocortisone, it really was effective. But there's nothing like it available in the UK, apparently. Conflicting advice from different pharmacists about what to use when they're infected. 

Antibiotics finished. Legs improved but bites definitely still very visible. Was outside watering again last night but skipped inside before the sun went down, that's when they get me!