Recently, a heatwave swept across the UK, and I have had to look at how I can help keep my plants and animals alive. The heatwaves are not over, and we can expect more in the coming month.
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My Gardening Journey 
That looks horrid, like bad steamed greens. I do not get it. The weather typically gets at least as warm here a few times annually, although this summer has been exceptionally mild. In fact, tomatoes are ripening slowly this year because of the lack of warmth. I know that some varieties that are popular there do not require much warmth, and are even intolerant of it, while some varieties that are popular here require warmth, and do not perform well without it. Nonetheless, even in San Francisco, where weather is much milder, I never observe tomato plants succumbing to unusual warmth.
Lettuce is completely different. It is a main crop a few miles away, in the Salinas Valley. However, it grows primarily during spring or autumn here, since it does not like the arid warmth of summer.
I’ve been to hot places but it seems so much worse in the UK when it gets hot. It may be the humidity or the rapid change from mild to hot. The plants were well watered but still struggled in the greenhouse. I’m going to pick up some shade cloth for the greenhouse to keep the worst of the sun off the plants to see if that helps. I feel for the farmers, we haven’t had much rain and heading to a drought. They seem to either be hit by too much rain or not enough!
Well, humidity is very relevant. Although I lack experience with the unpleasantly humid warmth of places like Florida, I know that a bit of humidity can make mildly warm weather seem icky. I mean, 85 degrees (29 degrees Celsius) can be somewhat uncomfortable with humidity. (It happened here only recently.) It seems worse than 110 degrees (43 degrees Celsius).