The importance of adequate hydration

Realized to my horror yesterday that the melon plants were showing signs of insufficient watering. So I pulled off a few shrivelled baby melons that were unlikely to amount to anything and watered them last night. Then I hauled myself out to the garden first thing this morning to give them a thorough watering before the heat of the day really sets in. (Thorough watering meaning I made sure the water was going in where the main vine comes out of the ground, and that it was an adequate amount - we're talking a couple gallons per plant. It took a while, because I was trying to make sure the water was going into the ground, not pooling on top of the ground cover.) I also gave in and used tomato stakes to mark the locations where the melon plants should be watered, because as thoroughly as they've covered the garden, it's getting tricky to find the spots without some sort of visual aid. I should have taken pictures...

Half an hour back inside afterwards, and having changed clothes completely, I'm still trying to cool down and re-hydrate myself.

It's going to be a misery outside today.