(if an Admin wants to change the Category… please do so…)
I’m amazed to see Herault in the just ‘probable’ category, as very little rain for ages and baking already! I’m sure there must be some reason/logic, but do struggle to understand. Just hoping my well doesn’t suffer 
We’ve already had a mature fig tree die and the only possible cause I can identify is drought, even though I didn’t think our winter had been unusually dry. Unfortunately a replacement tree with a trunk of similar diam is about €200!
When I originally purchased my house years ago, there was a mature fig tree which also suddenly died. At the time I put it down to either disease or Winter frost/freezing, as figs are incredibly hardy. Last year I went to Spain hiking and saw alot of wild figs in very very arid conditions, so I’d be very surprised if yours died due to lack of water.
We rarely get frost and I don’t recall any last winter - haven’t had snow since Dec 2012.
Researched the symptoms online in various countries - tree not putting out any growth, branches splitting at the trunk and bark breaking into areas of tessellated squares are all usually attributable to insufficient water. Haven’t been able to find any alternative explanations.
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You know something is awry when the Massif Central gets put in the “probable” category for drought again.
Bought a rhododendron in April in a pot to transplant out, but I fear it won’t survive the summer - like the last one I got a couple of years ago…
Same here in Aude next door. Hardly any rain this late winter and spring. Maybe were just better at water management, or maybe we have better resource. Or both. Who knows.
Edit: We’re both actually in the lowest level ‘possible’ category, not ‘probable’.
Today’s little job. Diverted the gutter down pipe into the cellars ‘citerne’ to capture the rain water for the garden and later on the toilets.
Note to self, paint front of house.
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Well done!!
We keep musing about the downpipe… and never get round to doing anything.
This might be “the year”…
At the very least have a couple of water butts linked to each other.
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I do gather rainwater in shallow receptacles…
That’s good advice - never thought of an extra, overflow rain butt.
When it teams with rain here I get so frustrated by the amount of water that the butts cannot cope with. We are fortunate in having an underground water tank by our gite which was installed when we did the restoration. I have rigged up a second water butt alongside the one that is taking the brunt of the water from our house roof. It pours over the gutter it is coming down so fast. The second water butt has no lid so the water overflowing the gutter is caught. I connect a hose to the tap, which I leave open and the hose goes all the way down to the water tank. So the main house butt is full and the excess water is being directed via the second butt into the water tank and not wasted - very satisfying.
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My neighbour has given his garden a good soaking from the well we share. He tells me it’s never run dry in living memory, but I reminded him that times are changing and we might need to be proactive. It’s given him something to think about.