Are you enjoying it or is it making life difficult for you?
How is it affecting your job/work, making it easier or harder to get through the working day?
I have to confess that despite being a gardener, both for work and pleasure and generally being an outdoors-y type i am finding the current hot weather hard going. When a t home i am having to reschedule my day so that i can stay in the cool/indoors during the hottest part of the day and be outside only in the early morning and evening when its cooler. Work is another matter, my normal working day requires me to be outside during the hottest part of the day and as a result days at work are an endurance and i struggle to get the work done. Dont get me wrong i enjoy my job but in extremes of weather like this my enjoyment and dedication to it is sorely tested.
Not coping, I cant breath this hot weather, to hot for me
I always feel better in winter at least you can wrap up.
There was quite a crowd at the lotties at 6:30 this morning .
I am glad I do not have to be out in the heat of the day. We have cavity wall insulation and one of the side effects was that the house stays cool. Looks like the heat is going to last a while yet.
Even my courgettes seem to be sagging in the heat.
Bit of a struggle getting through my steak and kidney pud. But a bucket of ice for the lagers helps. I have been out in the sun planning and decorating a big garden for a large 18th birthday party. Western themed, but seemed to manage alright. Early morning start, siesta, then a bit more as the sun starts setting. Don't do sun creams, but a light loose cotton shirt which I spray with water now and again, gets you through the hotter parts of the day.
It's much cooler here today with quite a breeze this afternoon- lots of drooping plants around, though- will douse them this evening.
Our office gets far too hot in this weather- we sent out for ice lollies on Friday afternoon!
I love the heat but it does mean a lot of effort in watering the plot - I spent a good hour or two this morning..
I have air con at work so that makes me popular with those that don't
Loving the heat but do tend to stay indoors in the cool for the hottest part of the day and keep the gardening jobs for earlier and later in the day - lots to do out there after 2 weeks away and weeds having a laugh and the grass to get back to a decent length.
This is so much better than last year's miserable summer.
As I hail from northern Australia, it's a bit of a daft question for me! I love it, I spent yesterday morning at the lottie doing lots of hard work, watered then mulched, planted the last squash plants, dug up at least 3 kgs of spuds, picked the broadies, peas, the first French beans, gave some TLC to the tomatoes and cukes, all under the full sun. Doesn't bother me in the least. Then after that we went to the beach :-)
At work we have had the air con on though, which I hate, but I understand that the others get hot. Our office has crap insulations o gets very hot. At home, we have just all the windows open all the time!!
I am not coping i do not like it this hot 24 is just about right for me.
Happy gardening for all of you that like this heat.
I'm with you Rosebud! I can't take the hot weather any more and stay indoors with all blinds down trying to keep the heat out. I make short forays into the garden during the day but wait till 9pm before venturing out to water the poor suffering containers of beans and squashes. It must be advancing age - I lived in Spain for 11 years where the current UK hot weather was the norm from May to October and it never bothered me :glasses9: :sunny:. The shade temperature in my walled garden rose to 31.2C yesterday and 40C in the GH despite frequent misting. We shouldn't grumble though - my veggies are growing like triffids and no sign of blight!
Tricia
Woke up at 5 am so went to the allotment to water. Staying inside now, but may go up there this evening if it cools down in very sunny Enfield, north London. All the washing is dry within an hour. Saw 3 horses whilst away walking in the Lune Valley, Lancaster and they had no water and were very distressed, but nice lady in nearby house took them water, and her friend was going to ring the RSPA. Poor horses, hope they are OK. People are very stupid with young children, old people, animals in this hot weather. Saw a few lobsters yesterday in Morrisons, and they were people not fish. :sunny:
I think that as you get older it affects you more I loved it when a teenager but agree with Rosebud that 24 is enough. The amount of watering get s tedious and stops you from doing something useful. I want to sow more salad stuff and hope that if I wait till late evening it will be okay.
I had company last weekend and missed watering some of my plants. Normally it wouldn't matter but with this extreme heat and no rain, I fear some of them are not going to recover.
I had some French beans and two containers of broccoli and some parsnips, ready to be planted, but I missed watering them and they are all dead. I also had twenty or so strawberry plants in pots and they may not recover. Some cuttings of various shrubs looked dried out but have recovered after being given some water yesterday. I now have all my plants together and have set up an automatic watering system. Those in the greenhouse have been on a watering system for a couple of weeks now.
I must admit that I am finding the weather a bit too hot. I don't mind this sort of weather when on holiday as I can sit and read in front of a fan, but when it comes to gardening I have to leave everything until the evenings. There are some jobs that are just not getting done.
I put water in plastic bottles in the fridge & also in two of those insulated beakers. When going round to the plot I take them round and put in the shade and it lasts me a session.
when really hot some of the allotment water keeps me cool splashed on my back!
I'm not coping this time round. Its never been a problem before having spent a good deal of my working life outside. Haven't been well since my op at Christmas and wonder if its the after effects of that. Or as someone else said its down to getting older :BangHead: although I'm now retire so thought things would get better not worse.
Went away for 5 days at the beginning of the month and despite my Lotty friend watering once a day, am losing some stuff due to it bolting. Going to Salisbury Saturday and hoping to buy a few replacements, I do like their market.
Getting ready for work in this weather means applying all day sun cream, donning hat, sunglasses and making sure I have lots of water in my kit. Still overheat though as I can't wear shorts with knee pads and boots. Got a bit of heat exhaustion on Tues after a particularly busy morning and had to take yesterday off, although the garden I was due to go to lacks shade and gets warm even in more normal conditions.
Digging up onions at 5am in the morning in the fog. Roll on autumn is all I can say.
I am hoping every day that it will cool down or even pour of rain ( overnight) of course my lovely garden is desperate for rain. I water the pots & baskets everyday that is hard enough being disabled so the garden has to wait. Hurry up & cool off please.
Hoiking the caravan down near the beach tomorrow, sea breezes, knotted hankie on head, a few cold beers, fishing rod cast out and a dip in the sea if it gets too hot.
I really don`t like this heat and tonight it is very oppressive, not a breath of wind and just one degree cooler outside than in, all windows open and fan on but it is not helping. We spent an hour watering the back garden this evening, all raised beds and pots, strawberries on table tops and in troughs, tomatoes in buckets and so on. I have rigged up bottle waterers for all the tomatoes but it is a real struggle, our 7 water butts emptied last week and we filled them today as it is easier than dragging the hose through the house.
I have prioritised on the allotment and the likes of courgettes and beans are getting priority, then squash and brassicas, then leek carrots and beetroots. We are just watering the fruit end to keep bushes going as it is a long walk with a can. I am very glad that I put phacelia on 4 raised beds so far as they are growing and starting to cover the soil. Also glad that we grew first early potatoes (now part roasted and frozen) and autumn onions, garlic and shallots as they are almost safely dry
I am a great follower of Piers Corbyn and he says that swift sudden swings in the jet stream are going to be a fact of life for 20+ years. We can expect just a short period of showers towards end of july and august looks horribly hot and dry right to the very end, when suddenly it gets torrential. I must admit that I am going to be basing my forward planning on this sort of basis ie erratic weather
Lilian, I also say `roll on autumn`
For me, my weekend starts NOW :blob7:
Like GM I'm a jobbing gardener and this week's job of cutting back/weeding underneath/severely bringing to order the hedge beyond, a looooooooong shrubbery has now been completed :glasses9:
And a bottle has been opened and the first glass raised to celebrate :icon_cheers:
Also like GM it was all(and had to be) achieved under total cover-up, including thick socks, to avoid the bitie beasties - just lacking the muslin fly deterrent thingy the girlies in B'ham here wear :tongue3:
It was annoying cos, tho I was ready,willing and able, to work from 7.30am onwards to avoid the extreme temps , my client didn't want to open the back gate to give me access until 9.am-ish, giving me til just mid-day in that location before I downed tools.....
'Mad Dogs and Englishmen' an orl that......
One particular client I declined (like refused in a sortov polite manner?) to work for this summer (boring hand weeding job in heavy clay, full sun, this summer?) Keeping my eye on that job cos with my other non-lotties hat on I don't want to see a YTS kiddo penalised because of a bad report:)
BUT, again, for me....
The Weekend Start NOW
Whewwwwwww :sunny:
Until a couple of years ago the hotter it was the better I liked it. Found this year the heat really affects me (think age has something to do with it). During the time I was in hospital in May and following weeks recovering the garden became a wilderness. I now know (hate to admit it) that I just cannot manage the garden so I have a great guy coming in to sort the main garden and to do maintenance. I have had some pleasure in doing a few baskets and tubs.