Butchered

The house to the west of ours is rented. There is an apple tree in the garden. I don't think it has been pruned in its lifetime -- the leader branches reach for the sky and the main body of the tree is growing into itself. Last year the fruit crop was very poor, the tree was diseased, and the leaves dropped weeks before they should have done. This year's crop has recovered somewhat, but the leaders have grown longer, overhanging our garden, blocking out the light and dumping sacks of rotten fruit onto our pathways and borders.

The tree desperately needed the attentions of a qualified tree surgeon, so I contacted the landlord's management agency directly and asked them to send someone round to cut it back. With a little tenderness, love and care, the tree had the potential to be a beautiful and healthy specimen.

I got home on Tuesday to discover that the apple tree had been butchered.

Instead of pruning the tree, cutting out the dead wood, chopping back the unsightly leaders and giving the tree a proper MOT, the dim-witted gardeners had just hacked off every single limb that cleared the boundary wall between our two properties.

The tree is now completely misshapen and is so lopsided it risks toppling over in a storm.

A total mess, and I'm quite upset about it. I don't think the tree will now survive the winter.

Idiots.