I certainly feel for you! I have goats and often say that gardeners spell "weapon of mass destruction" ... "G.O.A.T."

I don't know you neighbors, but I can say that I'd want to know if they got out and harmed someone else' property. Personally I wouldn't ask for payment of damages, as friendly relations with neighbors is invaluable. But if they were my goats, I'd OFFER.

I'd highly recommend a fence to prevent a repeat or deer.

Finally, you should have time for quite a few things: cowpeas, watermelon, cantaloupe, okra, beans (both pole & bush) as well as both summer and winter squash: even sweet potatoes. I'm sure there are more things.

Be aware that goats remember. So they might come back!

George
Tahlequah, OK

Thanks George! I was thinking about adding some more okra and beans. Sweet potatoes would be good too. We are in Tahlequah also - but I don't think you're my neighbor! :)

hi ejm,

i am in tahlequah too. mainly want to say hi.

george sure gave some good advice.

i certainly would put up a fence. last year we planted cantaloupes, and the day we were going to pick them and everyone one of them disappeared. probably woodchucks. this year he put in another garden, and still no fence. so i told him to plant extra melons for the woodchucks.

i am more chicken than george. i would just tell my neighbor that their goats ate my veggies, laugh about it, and then see if they offer to buy more for me. more than likely though, you will have other critters getting into the garden. woodchucks burrow under and i read that they jump over fences. although i have yet to see ours jump. we had to put the cat food up on the truck of the bed so they wouldn't eat it all. good luck i told my husband. so far no critter likes tomatoes, bell pepper or jalpenos.
if you have deer you need to put a fence up but a narrow one so the deer can't jump in. i would put one up that is 3 foot across. at least that is what my friend did, and the deer don't jump in. hers is about 10 to 15 feet long.

If they haven't already gotten into your garden, and hence, they don't know what's on the other side of the fence. A simple 5' fence might do. That's what I have around my garden. Also, it helps if the garden isn't in an area heavily traveled by deer.

ejm135 7, if you would be interested, I can get you a dozen sweet potato slips by taking cuttings off of those growing in my garden. I work at NSU's school of optometry. So hopefully we could arrange a pick up time. The slips won't have roots. But they'll root rapidly. I just stuck two of them into new hills, to root, last night. E-mail me if you'd be interested.

George

Thanks all for the responses! My neighbor was nice enough to drop off a huge bag of sweet corn and broccoli last night.

The fence is definately on the to do list, but I'm hesitant to build something substantial as we will more than likely be doing some expanding next year. So far we've used some repellant granules and have a dog that is good about chasing off deer.

I think I will look at this as an opportunity to plant some things that I otherwise may not have had an opportunity to try!