How to be hot in the garden this summer and avoid sunburn
SUNSHINE lifts the spirits. It chemically elevates mood by enabling our skin to synthesise vitamin D, which is a precursor to serotonin, the happy hormone.
It’s not just plants that feed off it. We gardeners can be gluttons for it, and gluttons for punishment. Too much sun is bad. And for the past few months we have been out in it often.
In August, we jet off to hotter sun or burn up every spare moment in the garden.
Sunburn is a solar burn — it is a consequence of overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation emitted from the sun.
UV is there all the time, aging our skin and undermining our protective defences.
Then, the day you dally a little too long in short sleeves or weed that extra mile, it manifests as burn. The sunburn brings erythema (reddening) and oedema (swelling) and that combination can be painful or hot to the touch.
It can blister, peel and/or develop secondary infections, including microscopic cellular changes that pose a cancer risk (particularly melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma). So, we gardeners need to protect ourselves.
In severer cases, sunburn can be considered as second-degree burn. And in minor instances, sunburn can cause electrolyte imbalances — including dehydration — and trigger neurological stress that can result in fever, chills, fainting and even circulatory shock.
If you’re pulling the plant and not the weed, it’s time for a cool drink and a spot in the shade.
Of course, prevention is better than cure, so, on sunny days, avoid prolonged sun exposure between 10am and 2pm — the shade of a tree in full leaf can provide sun protection to the tune of 10 to 20 SPF, but you will need more than that to shield your skin — wear suitable protective clothing, including long sleeves, sunglasses, and wide-brimmed hats, and regularly and repeatedly apply a sun block with a factor of at least 30+ SPF.
If you feel you are getting burned then stop, and get inside or into shade. Rehydrate and fan areas of hot skin. If you know you’ve been burnt, then a cool or lukewarm shower or bath can ease side-effects, but do not cool too rapidly.
Leave any blisters intact — if they burst on their own, then apply an antibacterial wash or ointment. The treatment emphasis is to relieve the discomfort of the burn, with analgesics or ‘after sun’ skin moisturisers.
More on that later, but back to prevention.
I love roasted tomatoes in winter, but am not a fan of salad tomatoes in summer.
Nevertheless, I put them on my plate at least once a week, from June, and I try to incorporate tomatoes and red foods into my meals, as they boost the skin’s natural SPF.
Tomatoes, red bell peppers, and watermelons all share a pigment called lycopene, which in plants protects against UV. In the human context, lycopene has an SPF of about 3 — not a lot you might say, but that’s three extra added on top of your sunblock.
Yellow and orange foods are also beneficial — carotenoids naturally activate human melanin (which helps our skin tan and not burn) and are found in carrots, beetroots, and sweet potatoes.
Black tea and pomegranates sound like the latest shampoo or an Irish bake-off muffin recipe, but both those ingredients share some powerful polyphenol compounds, which strengthen the skin’s ability to protect itself against harmful UV rays.
Barley, rye, and oats contain tocotrienols, which can alter how we absorb sunlight, boosting how we filter the harmful UV light. So, dietary choices can protect against the sun.
From the kitchen, the dairy fats in milk and yogurts are remedial to UV radiation damage and cooling, too — topically applied. Try a squeeze of lemon juice or a dash of apple cider vinegar to cool, de-inflame, disinfect and promote faster recovery.
Baking soda helps to balance your skin’s pH and speed recovery/healing. Black tea has the tannins to reduce inflammation and promote healing.
Natural yoghurt is a cooling agent, but also, like baking soda, works to sort the pH of skin and triggers faster healing with natural enzymes that speed sunburn recovery.
There is ‘first aid’ in the garden, too. Semperviviums and other garden-grown succulents can provide cooling sap, similar to aloe vera, that cool the burn, lessen the reddening, and trigger skin regeneration. A few sprigs of lavender, in a lukewarm bath, are soothing.
Cold chamomile tea is a great cooling and healing spritz or skin wash. My favourite remedy is strawberries. The pulped flesh and juice are beneficial.
Strawberry flesh has photo-protective properties; topically applied, it blocks solar and ultraviolet radiation from penetrating deep into your skin, and is also good for sunburn recovery.
Its healing compounds, coupled with the richness of anthocyanins, modulate enzymatic processes, are antioxidant, cooling and anti-inflammatory —thereby increasing cellular survival and viability and also decreasing damage to skin DNA.
For a simple salve, take a half cup for strawberries and blitz with half a cup of plain yogurt to yield a lotion, or simply slice like cucumber pads and apply directly to red surface. Also, eating of strawberries will supply an internal defence against cellular damage.
Never grow strawberries near potatoes, tomatoes or chrysanthemums, as they are all prone to the disease known as verticillium wilt, and strawberries are prone to catching it, rather than passing it on.
Use chamomile and/or chive foliar sprays to keep strawberries free of mildews. Sage and basil, planted beside tomatoes, boost their health and vigour.
Chamomile will grow in a hanging basket or window box, as well as between paving slabs or garden edges. The plant we grow can benefit us in so many ways and being outdoors is how we evolved to be — the garden is there to be enjoyed.
Don’t fear it in hot weather. Simply protect yourself and enjoy it all the more.
