If you are into gardening, you know the sun is one of the most critical factors for a successful garden. Lots of plants love the sun. There is an unbreakable relationship between them. When I decided to make a veggie garden, I picked a location int the front of my house so that the garden gets the maximum sunlight. My veggies are thriving very nicely.
As the summer approaches, the sun gets stronger and stronger. Here in Brisbane, Australia, the sun is believed as dangerous because we have a big hole in the ozone layer right above us. People are taught to wear sunblock, a big hat and cover skin with protective clothes. Skin cancer is a big issue around here.
I felt the danger on my skin this morning while weeding my garden. It’s not even summer yet but I felt the sunlight was stinging my skin. If you live in Australia, you must be familiar with the feeling when the sun is burning your skin right in front of your eyes. Being an Asian, I’m lucky to have a stronger skin compare to pale skinned people, but I certainly developed a few sunspots over the decade of living in Australia. In fact, I had my mole removed last year for the first time in my life!! It’s very common for people who live in Australia to remove moles when they look suspicious. As soon as the shape of a mole changes, you are encouraged to remove it and send it to analysis. The doctor told me that the chance of a skin cancer with the mole was 10%. Fortunately, it wasn’t a bad one. You might think 10% is a pretty low chance, but it’s considered “high enough” here. It only took one stitch (also my first stitch in my life) to fix up my skin, relatively simple and quick procedure.
Love triangle: the garden, the sun and your skin
As much as I love to spend time in the garden, I have to be very careful during the veggie growing season. Staying under the sun between 10am and 2pm is not recommended in Brisbane, the sun is too strong and too dangerous. It’s not good time to water your plants either because the water will evaporate before it gets to the roots of plants. The evaporated water also acts like a steam bath for the plants, that can cause some damage. To prevent that damage, I water the garden in the early morning. I use plenty of water so that the plants can get through the tough daytime. This method, ‘lots of water less often’ is better than ‘a bit of water more often’ because it encourages roots to grow deep down, instead of wide spread. Deep roots are strong in drought. Plus, watering in the morning gives leaves plenty of time to get dry. This is important for disease prevention. Water based disease previously destroyed my tomatoes and roses… Not fun… I won’t do that again!!
Having said that, there are plants that love regular watering, I water them again in the afternoon, after the danger of evaporation has past. I use a small cup to carefully water at the base of the plant, not on leaves. A small margarine cup works well to do that.
Thanks to the sunny climate in Brisbane, we have a long period of growing season. The strong summer sun only gives me the time to garden before 10am and after 4pm but I’m grateful that I’m in this climate. I still wear sunblock, a hat, a cardigan and a pair of long pants while outside. The protective clothes are hot and makes me sweat. My sweat washes off the sunblock so I apply it again every two hours. So much love for the gardening… you might think. Yes, I love plants so much and I don’t consider the sun as an enemy of my skin. With a bit of care, I can find a way to enjoy the sun. I can grow potatoes all year around, sun loving veggies are so easy and quick to grow. If you like growing corns, this is a wonderful place to be.
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