why the rain that has fallen in recent weeks in France is not necessarily good news for our gardens

“This is the first time that I have seen such a rainy month of May,” assures Alain Barraton, head gardener of the Grand Parc de Versailles and the Trianon estate. Before telling the franceinfo microphone, worry about the heat which could increase quickly in the coming days.

Rain, mud and “small wools”… Funny end to the month of May in a large part of France: after several days of rain, the sun should reappear in the coming days, marking a start June more “classic”. Still, for gardens, this capricious weather is difficult to understand. And the spring weather expected shortly could once again complicate the task of certain gardeners, as Alain Barraton, head gardener of the Grand Parc de Versailles and the Trianon estate, explains to franceinfo.

franceinfo: With all the rain that has fallen in recent weeks, can we speak of “good weather” for the gardens?

As a historical monument, 47 years in Versailles, this is the first time I have seen such a rainy month of May! This actually poses a number of problems. Let’s take the example of the flower beds that we are decorating: the plants that we are installing, the small flowers intended to color the beds in summer, are difficult to grow. Flowers need sunlight to appear, to bloom. And weeds, what we call weeds, grow much faster than the plants we put in. So it is difficult to see the difference. Even worse to weed: how do you want to weed when you know that weeding consists precisely of putting the roots in contact with daylight. However, the sun is not there, what we do is of no use. So the park is completely greening up, even where I would have liked to see more of the little flowers.

So the plants cannot tolerate these bad weather any more than what we have experienced in recent years, namely drought and heatwaves?

To put it simply, plants really need three main elements: water – there is no shortage of that -, sun and heat. How do you expect to have tomatoes in your garden in a few months if there is no sun to make them grow and heat to ripen them? How do you expect fruit trees to be able to produce a profusion of fruit when we know that torrential rains wash out the hearts of the flowers, dilute the pollen and therefore prevent good pollination. And if this continues, the situation is going to get really, really complicated.

“The situation is very worrying. With the arrival of the heat, I now fear the appearance of fungi. We are not in the Amazon, our plants in the gardens are much more sensitive ornamental plants.”

Alain Barraton

at franceinfo

Particularly dangerous for walkers in parks and public gardens.

You should be careful. You must always be careful. Because there is another problem that we have not mentioned, it is the weight of the water on the branches. Many trees today even have branches that break because after a certain time, since it rains a lot, they produce a lot of leaves. Look at the trees: we have rarely seen such green nature, such beautiful trees. However, many trees are having branches that break. If, tomorrow, strong gusts of wind were to blow through these trees, I fear serious damage. What makes a park beautiful is of course a balance of vegetation in reasonable quantities. There, there is an imbalance, with too much water. I sincerely hope that the situation will return to normal quickly. Every year, we have had drought problems. This year it’s getting crazy. The Grand Canal, which is our main reservoir at Versailles, allows us to get an idea of ​​how much water is falling. Well, in normal times, we take care to save water so that the fountains can operate all summer, while currently, we release water in the face of overflow precisely to prevent the Grand Channel is not saturated.

Despite everything, do you have any advice for protecting plants and other small vegetable gardens?

There’s not much to do except pray if you believe in a God, obviously. But no, there is not much to do for the little garden, except to hope that the sun finally deigns to come out again.