Everyone probably saw the "goat incident" post from last week. A neighbor's goats got out and ate all the leaves off several trees and broke a few branches on several trees trying to reach for more leaves.
The goats were returned home, the fence was fixed and things are returning to normal.
I went through and trimmed the broken branches and checked everything. I also gave them a good deep watering. They are looking much better now.
The goats were returned home, the fence was fixed and things are returning to normal.
I went through and trimmed the broken branches and checked everything. I also gave them a good deep watering. They are looking much better now.
The leaves are growing back so we guess the leaf eating doesn't hurt the tree. This is the Meyer lemon, leaves are coming out all over.
Here is one of the two apple trees and it is leafing out (oops, ignore the lack of weed eating, see yesterday's post about that, LOL).
The lime tree is leafing out and has a couple of flower blossoms on it so we guess it's really bouncing back.
Side note, the aroma of those two flowers is just intoxicating. We can't imagine a large tree bloomed out all over in the Spring, it must be amazing.
Then this was the other apple tree (the Anna) that had the most damage (they REALLY liked this one) all the leaves were stripped off and several branches broken. I cut off the broken branches to clean it up but wow it's almost completely leafed out again.
The neighbor fixed the fence so we should be good with that. I know some of you were concerned about the neighbor and the situation. He has been pretty good, we've never had any issues and he has kept the fence line maintained most of the time. We've done some repairs a couple of times over the years as well. Most of the fence line from the road to the back touches 2nd Family's property. Our part is much shorter, maybe 100 feet? Easy for us to keep an eye on our part and 2nd Family is going to keep an eye on their part.
The neighbor has had goats and donkeys and a cow or two for years and this is, as far as we know, a first. We've had some cows in the yard a few times, once from a rear neighbor and a couple times from the neighbor on the OTHER side.
We guess we'll just have to get used to that potential and of course walking the fence line fairly often would probably be a good idea. The good thing is while I'm on the mower I can check most of it since I ride right beside almost all parts of it. I'll just have to be even more observant, ha.
In the future we may fence in the fruit tree area with something more permanent just to be safe.
As some of you commented,
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors!
Nice to see that your fruit trees are bouncing back so quickly. Happy little trees once again.
ReplyDeleteI remember several years ago when living in Iowa I had a beautiful climbing rose for 1 year but the following year it really looked crappy and wouldn't bloom so I cut that sucker down to the ground and took the mower and went over it and wouldn't you know that rose grew better than ever the following year and bloomed like crazy.
Enjoy your day; stay safe & keep cool.
Sometimes those trees just need a bit of pruning to make them produce even better.
ReplyDeleteWe had a wonderful orange tree in mid-California and every year it had to be really cut back and the next year we would have so many oranges we had to give them away! If you think the lime tree blossoms are fabulous ... you should smell an orange tree in full bloom ... there is nothing like it!
Your fruit trees are recovering surprisingly well. I’m so glad the goat-damage did not permanently hurt them.
ReplyDeletegoat pruning can be a good thing!
ReplyDeleteHas the neighbor with the goats asked about what he can do to make it up? Or, has he contacted you at all? Maybe he could bring steaks or goat cheese and say he was sorry. LOL
ReplyDelete