What do goats know about fruit tree pruning I don't? I'm going with, A Lot! Last August my billy figured out the fencing was pretty much there at his pleasure. One afternoon it no longer pleased him... Those landscape tie posts snapped like tooth picks. Thor, the three does and the four doelings thought it a grand idea to forage in mommy's fledgling orchard. By the time I found them, the orchard is out beyond the
greenhouse, an hour or so into their late lunch, my orchard looked as if a tornado had touched down. Shaking my head and swearing loudly, I herded them back in the pen, thanking them for having trashed 5 years work and several hundreds of dollars worth of
trees, then mended the
fence with metal posts.
The peach tree was always a good provider but not this good. I could never get the Italian plums to give me
enough for even one jar of jam. The most the almond tree ever produced was 6 almonds. One year I got three Macintosh apples and one small nectarine.
This year the trees are loaded! The peach tree lost a branch last night in the rain storm it was so heavy with fruit. It was on my list today to cull some of the fruit. The only thing that changed is last August's savage pruning. So I what the hell do goats know about pruning I don't? This is not a one off. I have an heirloom old
rose in the kitchen garden. One afternoon Fauna took upon herself to prune it to the ground for me. It's now 3' wide and 4' tall. It was just starting to rain but I did manage to get a few photos for your perusal.
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