Sizzling in the summer (and I don't mean the snags on the barbie!!)

It is really, REALLY hot here today (and tonight!). Gary's temperature gauge on his car said it was 43 degrees outside on his way home at 6.00pm. Fortunately the boys and I spent the day at the Balnarring Beach, we set up our umbrella and met up with 2 other friends (11 kids between us) and had a much cooler time than if we were at home. I had to pop home during the day and nearly cried at the sight of my poor wilting garden, everything looked withered and sapped of all moisture. The sweetcorn's leaves were all curled, the bean leaves just looked fried (I think they will suffer some permanent damage but I hope they can grow new leaves before the end of the season.)
I spent 1 1/2 hours this morning (early) in the relative cool, watering everything and adding extra mulch, so it was pretty sad to see it all so stressed. Thankfully, when the sun started to set, the plants seemed to take a breather and take up some moisture and I'm sure most of them will recover in the slightly cooler night (it is 11.30pm now and still feels over 30 degrees - not much sleeping happening tonight I think, as we don't have air con).

And the good news is we have only got 2-3 more days of massive temperatures! Yah!!!!
Let's hope we can all limp through to the weekend and find some relief from the heat where ever you can. ( Probably more swimming and beaches for us, although my 9 yo boy had too much sun today so we might try to stay out of it tomorrow.)

How do you stay cool in a heatwave? Any tips to nurse the garden through the heat? I'd love to hear from you.