Our actual temperature is forecast for 102 this afternoon. (Heat index will be “105-110+”. ) In the southwest, the denizens say things like, “But it’s a DRY heat” – as if you don’t fry in that. In Arkansas, right now it’s NOT a dry heat, and it’s pretty awful. Even with our irrigation system, flowers and the remaining tomato plants are just barely hanging on.
I cleaned out my square foot garden last week, and am now spraying weed killer on the floor of the garden under the chest-high raised wooden boxes of our garden, as well as around the perimeter of the garden, around the trash cans of the components of Mel’s Mix (the alternative to native soil), etc.
I’m getting good exercise from weed whacking and cleaning up our concrete areas with a leaf blower, toting a 2 gallon container of weed or bug spray, and trying to weed my flower planters without croaking in the heat.
I’ve given up trying to work outside ‘in the morning’ or ‘in the evening’ like sane people do. Something seems to always come up, making it impossible, so I divide my day into
- ERRANDS – trying to be clean and reasonable presentable
- HOME – where I just try to stay alive, doing as many sessions as my energy will allow outside (taking breaks and drinking lots of water), and then going up for a shower, clean clothes, and lots of rest the remainder of the day.
I used to be like the picture above, loving to bake in the heat of the summer, preferably beside a swimming pool, but not a necessary thing. Now I barely step outside and I’m wet from head to toe and avoiding the heat as much as I’m able. I love working in my garden and with my flowers, but NOT when I’m frying like an egg.
“What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it. ” ~ Charles Dudley Warner
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