water is the major problem. As long as there is sufficient moisture, many vegetables will germinate in triple digit temps. Some like brassicas, we either wait for a cool spell in late August or September (turnips, radishes, rutabaga, kale, mustards. or we construct a plant bed in shade and start the plants for transplant in September- October ( broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards). Chenopods (beets, spinach) and English pea group, I don't have much success with fall harvest. Usually plant in late fall (November-December and overwinter for spring harvest.

My garden gets afternoon shade, which I have discovered is a really good thing. I had good luck last year starting seeds for fall veggies (collards, etcs.) in flats under my deck seats (shade) and watering them daily, per farmerdilla's instructions.

Shade and mulch.

The new normal in the weather. Get used to it.

Dan

For the plants shade & mulch, drip hose/sprinklers or water often, at least once a day.
For the gardener, wear light colors, big hat, work in mourning & late evening.
I have worked in 100+ degrees weather for the past 30 plus years. If you drink water & stop in the shade every hour you should be fine. You may want to call your Doctor if you have any problems with heat.

Shade, mulch and water as stated.

A few years ago I broke up the home garden, set out some Dogwood trees in the middle of it and lined the afternoon heat side with Lombardy Poplars and Leylands ... just trying to provide a break.

I'm sure that many days of topping, thinning and cutting down await me but trying to conform to, as Dan said, the new normal ( apparently).

Been playing with fabric and weed-eating vs hoeing. Pics are from this morning ... The Great Fireball rises from left to right. Dogwoods in the middle ...

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Below the Dogwoods ...

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Not much to do in the bigger fields except plant and Pray ..

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For the gardener, large amounts of watermelon, which has fluids, vitamins, and potassium in abundance, as well as chemicals that lower the body temperature.

The problem of germinating a number of Fall crops in summer is well known. I recently posted in another thread that the current cool spell in the Midwest should not go to waste, and I used it to start all of the largest Fall plants (cabbage, broccoli, fennel, lacinato etc.). Spinach, for example, will refuse to germinate in warm soil.

Since I also do not have the time to water twice a day a seeded bed, I use a variety of techniques. I use cold/cloudy/rainy spells always, as said before. You have to give Fall seeding max priority when the forecast says heavy rain in 2 days.

For starts in trays, I keep them in the house (about 75-80) or the basement (65) for several days, then when you start seeing some germination, place them outside in shade. For direct seeding, I try to use shady beds as much as feasible (so transplants go to sunnier beds). Two other techniques that I may have to use this August, when I replant the onion and garlic beds, may be the sprouting of seeds in the house in a coffee filter, so I would scatter pre-germinated seeds, and placing plywood on bricks over the bed to shade it for a few days.

I have also found it wise to not trust weather predictions of late ... if it is not raining, I water as scheduled.

My days of waiting on X% chance of rain are long gone.

Nice posts. Thank you. It's obvious that excessive heat affects us all. My garden is backyard size, and I mulch heavily with grass clippings, so that helps insofar as watering is concerned. I do very little to no direct seeding. Still, as stated in my original post, it was puzzling at first why I could not get a single seed to germinate even indoors and out of the sun, until I figured it out. By the time it cooled off it was too late for seed starting.

Nice row garden cozy! I have huge oak trees that start to shade mine after 3PM. I am trying east to west rows this year as an experiment, they have been north to south for the last 30+ years.

What kind of tractor do you have? I have an Allis Chalmers AC. Love it!

I also have a small backyard garden. Lettuce tolerates transplanting very well, and broccoli will if you don't wait too long.

Carrots have to be sowed directly into the ground. To get good germination, I water the seeds good and place a layer of burlap over them and keep them damp as much as possible. When there is signs of sprouting, I raise the burlap and suspend it as a shade cloth. I slowly roll it up as the seedlings get started and are able to take the full sun.

Turnips and radishes seem to have no problem. They are tough. I keep them moist with a soaker hose and always plant extra and thin to ensure I get a good stand.

cozy, nice Dogwoods & tomatoes too.
I will be putting in a few new raised beds, berry bushes, fruit trees. Above them on the upper 3, I am putting in Dogwood, Japanese maples, Live oaks & Confers to start a Japanese garden for my daughter. It will take same years to form, but your dogwoods are about the right size to start with.

Well seeing as how when it was snowing everywhere else, we went from 40 degrees to 90 in less than a week... lots and lots of patience.

I put up shade with some old sheets and 6 foot posts. It really makes a difference to the tomatoes and me. I start when temps get above 95-100 degrees.

I have been gardening and transplanting in this heat. I have been digging beds in evening and night. Closest to the street lights gets dug latest as I can see in the dark there. Water the dug over and amended soil, leave it overnight, plant the next night. Get up early early and mulch the next AM. Shade out the tomatoes and peppers for a week or two when newly transplanted. I have only full sun so I work from 7-12 and then 6-10 and am slowly getting it all done.
In my raised beds I used ollas which help save $$ with slow watering. I rain out of rain barrel water weeks ago. I do save the AC water. It doesn't cover much square footage but I can water two beds or one fair sized area per night. Doesn't much help the trees! We need rain.

It's amazing the lengths you large-scale growers go through. Gardening-farming ain't for sissies.

Beer.

We get up to 110 in the summer here, with zero humidity. For those reasons, I put my garden on the side of the house, where it only gets sun from 10am - 2pm everyday. I know it doesn't sound like much sun, but plants wilt instantly under that direct heat. I even had to put up 50% shade cloth to keep them alive.

It seems to work, I think the plants get plenty of indirect sunlight to grow well, even though it's not the preferred direct sun. Should I change something, or is this little of sunlight okay?

Excessive Heat?

Zone 7, above 90F is a problem? I live in zone 5a, had temp above 100F almost all of last summer, for at least 90 days!

Oops. Should have given more than a weather report.

Tomatoes, peppers, corn, melons, onions, cucumbers, beets, carrots, beans, all do well, in spite of the crappy weather.