Eighty Miles north but 500 east of Madison Al, our temps are similar. I tend to garden right after dinner around 7 p.m. until dark and then I take a cooling shower.

Sometimes on the weekend, if I wake up early I love to walk around my garden and just fuss about.

We’re a ways north of you, but I pretty much stay out of the strongest sun and high temps as I’m very fair skinned and older. Plus I work generally 8am-1pm. I would love to get up early in the morning when it’s the coolest but I am NOT a morning person, so actually working in the garden is out, but I do enjoy my cup of coffee wandering about. On weekends, tho, I’m out there usually by 9 with a nap about 2-4, then out again til dark.

We have a creek behind us and a TON of bugs in the back, so I wear repellent and have a special hat that has repellent built-in (at least for 20 washings!). I hate putting repellent on my face and the hat solves that problem.

I try to get out in the mornings but, like Mamabluestem, I’m not a morning person, so the earliest I usually get out there is 8:30, 9:00. If the humidity is not too high, I can generally work till noon. I’ll sometimes start up again late afternoon/early evening, but a lot of times the heat and humidity have taken the oomph right out of me and I just can’t do much more than wander around admiring my gardens and hoping the weed fairies have come in my absence. I’ve tried a lot of things to stay cool. I’ve put one of those patio umbrellas in a cast iron stand and moved it about, but it doesn’t help much when the humidity is really high. I’ve used those sweat bands with the water beads in them (one around the forehead and one around the neck), but they don’t last long … and mine got mouldy so I threw them out. I have a cloth sunhat a friend made me and sometimes I wet it with cold water and just plunk it on my head. Now-a-days, I wrap a cold wet washcloth around some ice cubes and put it in a baggie and use it to wipe my face and neck when the sweat rains on my glasses. And of course, I always have a water bottle, with ice in it and I take quite a few short breaks to just sit down.

I am not a morning person either. I would much rather garden at midnight by the light of the moon and my solar garden lights… but my 3yo is a morning person. I finally got him sleeping in until 7 or so though…… But the shade in the back lasts until 10 or 11 right now so that’s plenty. Now I need to go weed…..