20, 21 sometimes 22 degrees : temperatures have risen in recent days in the Dordogne, and on the balconies the window boxes are blooming. But be careful, because Météo-France predicts a sharp drop in temperatures for the end of the week, with even episodes of frost during the weekend. A particularly delicate period for gardeners.
Frost this weekend
In his garden in Boulazac, a yellow cap on his head to protect him from the sun, Jean-Jacques has his eyes riveted on the large thermometer, hanging on the olive tree. It is close to 20 degrees on this Monday, March 28. “20 degrees… But watch out! It’s the critical time. Watch out for the frost”, he explains. Exactly, frost, there could be some this weekend. “We could reach -2, -3 degrees in the Dordogne”says a forecaster in Agen.
And the risks, Jean-Jacques and his wife Pierrette know them well. With negative temperatures, some plants risk burning out. Even if they took out the Cycas, the most fragile bougainvilleas and geraniums remain in the garage. “You have to take them out of course when the weather is nice! But as soon as you feel it’s going to be cold, you bring them back in”, smiles Pierrette. She even left veils on the geraniums.
– Joan of Butler
A little further up the street, Mimi, clogs on her feet, doesn’t want to take any risks. She left everything inside. “For the moment I have left them a little sheltered. And even a gardener will tell you that you have to wait until May 15. In April we want to take everything out, the weather is nice but you know what we says: in April, do not discover yourself with a thread. The month of April, you have to be wary of it”she said in a big burst of laughter.
“Now is not the time to take them out definitively”, Jean-Louis the gardener of France Bleu Périgord
Precisely, France Bleu Périgord knows one who has a very green thumb. And Jean-Louis the gardener is formal. “Those who took out the geraniums and dipladenias, we will have to think about putting them back in the garage, for two or three days. This is not the time to take them out definitively. It’s a moment of gymnastics where we come in and we take them out according to the weather”, he says. And this is valid for flowers, but also for citrus fruits which have just been bought and which are not used to the cold, or even for the first salads, which will have to be covered during the two or three days of frost. .
All this, Mimi knows well. But what worries him above all are his two fruit trees, his cherry tree and his peach tree. They are already making beautiful flowers, white and pink. They too fear the cold, but for once, she can’t do much.