Summer Gardening Must Haves

My summer gardening basket of must haves sits by my den door so I don't forget things.

Summer Gardening Must Haves

The hot dog days of summer are here in Missouri. At around 2 p.m. earlier today I found myself "wimping out" of spending time in my garden, unheard of if you could see all of the work that still needs to get done. I mean, is a garden ever really finished??

I sheepishly put away my pruners, dusted off my hat and snuck into the house hoping none of my neighbors would see me. Then I thought this is ridiculous, it's hot, I'm retired and I'm done for the day. A friend's posting of her thermometer in the porch shade sealed the deal - 104.5F, and it's only mid July.

According to the Climate Change Institute in Columbia, Missouri, the trend will be for us to have longer springs, hotter summers, longer falls and milder, shorter winters with less snow. So far we definitely had a milder winter and longer spring. Not looking forward to a hotter Missouri August, the ones in previous decades were nothing to celebrate, the Missouri Botanical Garden calls it the "dearth," when most of Missouri's plants go into survival mode, or die off all together. It's not good news for bees, with colonies at their highest populations for the year left without a source of food.

As our climate rapidly changes, we are also seeing more ticks, bigger poison ivy plants and the obvious, exposure to more dangerous sun rays. To remind myself to protect myself before I head into the weedier parts of my garden, I set up this basket of "must haves" I keep by my den door.

Bug spray, sunblock, water, neck towel - and don't forget a gardening hat - are must haves!

The basket has the following, all must haves to survive the hotter summer temperatures:

30 Sunblock or higher

Bug off

Extra pair of socks to fend off the aggressive poison ivy vines

Clear Caladryl for those spots that get exposure

Gardening gloves

Neck towel

Small bottle of water

Two plastic bags in case the gloves tear

Muslin kitchen towel to wrap around my head

Garden hat (out of picture)

I also wear sunglasses but if you don't regularly wear glasses, add a pair to your basket.

No need to spend a lot of money on the basket, I picked this one up at one of our local thrift stores for $1. No, wait, it cost me $2, this was the second basket I bought because my cats appropriated the first one as a napping spot.

Charlotte