I get out there as early as I possibly can..and the grass is always wet with dew...If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to do the work...I have to be back inside by noon ...well this time of year 111 is even better...

Im out there at 7am normally I go out every 3 hours sometimes more, but it starts at 7am LOL. I love being outside.

I work anytime it's cool, mornings & late afternoons, and right after rain for weeding. I wash my hands before going to the garden and when I come back in. As for spreading diseases that are already in the garden, I suspect it'll spread without my help anyway.

After work, sometimes after dinner - 6 or 7-ish. Sometimes the dew has come back around by the time I get inside!

Two things to keep in mind are our own health and the harvest schedule demands. I would prefer to only work in the garden for the first and last few hours of each day to avoid the sun's furry. However some crops just wouldn't get harvested in that schedule, especially with other obligations.

So I find that the next best thing is to work into the night using headlamps. Some drawnout tasks like picking beans or raspberries seem to be more pleasant in the dark of night.

Your father's recommendation of avoiding handling wet plants is worth heading but you also need to weigh in to the fact that the harvest of most vegetables (and fruits) will be more plump and less wilted if harvested before the sun is high in the sky. There are measures that you can take to avoid the spread of disease but keep in mind of why you are growing these crops.

I did a lot of weeding/trimming in my flower garden last night after 7 p.m. when it was pleasantly cool here. For the vegetable garden I get out there every day at any time I can, even sometimes in the heat, although that is not ideal. At this peak time in July, I have to harvest crops every day so the plants will keep producing, and Fall planting is well underway also.

late afternoon-evening. i don't have time before work, so i wait until it cools some after work.

It's interesting to see the different times of day.
When I lived in Alaska, I could work outside ALL day in the garden. It usually wasn't much more than 80 deg in Southeast and the peak heat was about 1pm-2pm.
Now in Oregon, Different story. The heat peaks about 4-5pm.
Isn't that crazy? Anyways, I take care of the sun lovers in the morning until about 12, then work in the part shade until maybe 1pm then it's just too hot. I also use a very big safari hat for times I just can't resist.
Tom

I always work in the late afternoon or evening. I might do a patrol earlier, to check for japanese beetles or do a little watering, but any serious work waits until the cooler evening hours. My natural clock wakes me up at 10:30 or 11 every day. Getting up earlier than that is really hard.

To your point, your father is right that working among wet plants increases the chance of spreading bacterial diseases. I look at it like watering. It's ideal to water at the soil level, never letting the foliage get wet. But if I don't have soaker hoses installed, or the time to hand-water or stand there with the hose, then my garden is a lot better off for me to set up a sprinkler than not to water at all. Same with working among wet plants. If the only time you can work is while they're wet, then that's probably better than not working with them at all.

I've heard about not working when the garden's wet too, but as long as I don't touch any leaves I think it's okay. Since my garden is about 10 miles from where I actually live, and I work full-time, late afternoons during the week and mornings on the weekend are the pattern. Weeding/watering in the morning and picking/planting in the afternoon for the most part.

I have some physical limitations, so I have to split my gardening time with my housework time. Sometimes that means I'm out there at 1:00PM in the blazing hot sun watering, or weeding in the early evening battling the skeeters. I do what I can when I can, and hope that everything survives.

I am out there at 4am. It is the only time things are still wet and there is enough light to work by...Although the palo verde bugs haven't gone to be yet, so they can be a little startling.

Why 4am? Easy: my toddler gets up with the sun, and naps at the hottest part of the day, when it is 117 outside. So, I try to get up before him to do the weeding and hard work.

Here is a link that might be useful: Eeek!

Thank you all. I have been struggling with fitting my garden time in around the expanding demands of my job and my teenage athlete daughter. My garden is only half mulched and I have been fretting. Since middle age sleeplessness has descended, I'm up as the sun rises and am excited that I can head to my garden early!

Weekdays I garden after work until dark or until exhaustion sets in.

Weekends I garden in the morning, working in intervals most of the day unless my husband or son has other plans.

I work in the garden whenever I can get out there. I have to work around my schedule, work and classes, so Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights are a no go. Otherwise I have an hour or two in the early evening, and I have weekends. If I don't have to go to work, I sleep, so I don't get out there until late morning/early afternoon on weekends. Then I tend to work all out because I've got so much to do. I take short breaks to rest and get water, but if I get around to weed whacking or mowing the yard at 3:30 when it's 114 in the sun, then that's what I do.

Q: What's the best time to go fishing?
A: When you can.

Q: What's the best time to water your garden?
A: When you can.

Q: What's the best time to work in your garden?
A: When you can.

To tell the truth, the benefit to the gardener which comes from working in the cool and quiet of early morning outweighs any loss from spread of plant diseases. But I tend to put in short stints at various times of day.

Jim

I planted my sunflower seeds after midnight a week ago. I just couldn't find the time, and the season's clock was ticking. Flashlight and seeds. Kept grabbing a trowel full of my kids play sand, poking a seed in the dirt and marking where I put the seed with the light colored play sand. Flashlight was propped up to give some light, but not much. Once the plot was dotted up with play sand, I went to bed.
I water whenever I have time. Day or night. I try to follow the rule and water early in the day and only the dirt. But wilted plants take what they can get.

Sometimes I can get in a quick watering of the things in containers before work (which starts at 7:30). Other than that it's after the worst of the heat down here has abated. I've been known to weed by the light from the patio light and windows! Our heat index was around 105 last week, and very humid. You won't find me outdoors doing work in conditions like that!