It strikes every year, afflicting thousands of once-earnest gardeners: midsummer malaise. We start the year with a pent-up need to plant, to bring fresh life from a landscape that was buried under deep snow for so very, very long. And then: August. Ooof. Our gardens turn muggy, buggy, weedy and wilty. Even the produce that thrilled us with its first onset starts to seem like a chore, and we secretly hope that the peas peter out so we don't have to shell one more batch.

For me, vacation plays a role. I have one blissful, cool week on the North Shore, but my weeds and produce didn't take the week off. When I come back, the garden seems overwhelming, and I start to avert my eyes from offending parts of the yard.

If you've been bitten by the garden flu, here are five strategies I use to fight back:

1. Count to 10. Pull 10 weeds from one plot each day. Or spend just 10 minutes weeding – you'll have given enough blood by that time. I have to squelch my mistaken idea that it's not worth gardening unless you can spend at least an hour. Six days of 10 minutes each adds up to that same hour, and if it's really super hot, I'm not going to want to spend an hour out in it.

2. Garden by the sun: Unless your garden enjoys complete sun, chances are good there's shade somewhere in your yard in the morning or late afternoon.Chase it, and move the minute the sun catches up with you.

3. Start fresh: Give up on beleaguered early season crops like lettuce and peas, and plant some late-season offerings so you restore some novelty. Some fall-loving kale, spinach or colorful Swiss chard will take off where your arugula bolted. A colorful annual on clearance sale at the garden center can perk up a lackluster window box or planter.

4. It's never too late to mulch. Get off the weeding treadmill by putting down mulch. You'll get a boost of enthusiasm from having a tidy area of your yard where you don't mind looking. And any area you get under control this year will make next spring that much easier.

5. Make something tasty. I always get a boost of enthusiasm when I try a good new recipe using my garden produce. Clearly my basil needs topping. Usually I just make a bunch of pesto to deal with the excess, but this time I think I might give this basil aioli a try.

How about you? What are your strategies for getting out of a garden funk? And what's your favorite way to use up basil? (As if there could be too much of that good a thing.)