Dandelion nightmare!

Hi all,

Can anyone tell me the best way to tackle Dandelions in the lawn? We had turf laid in the garden when we moved in 5 years ago and it looked gorgeous. We however have a neighbour who does nothing with their garden and lets the weeds etc. grow claiming it is a wildlife garden. I'm all for helping the wildlife but it's a mess.

We have too many Dandelions to dig them out so wondered what other options there are and if people have seen results?

We have a baby on the way and want to use the garden more and enjoy it but I get really annoyed with the Dandelions and no sooner have I cut the grass, they're back with a vengeance!

I cut the grass for the first time last week but not a scalping as it was too long and wet - our garden slopes as a flood defence and to bottom was way too wet to have a low cut!

I can post a photo if that helps?

Look forward to hearing from you

B.

 

Hi,

There are loads of lawn weedkillers around and everyone will have there own favourite, though hand weeding is the best, sounds like you have too many for that.

Our preference is for one of these concentrate liquids that you water on using a watering can with a fine rose or spray bar, very easy to use and hard to overdose etc.
https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/weedol-concentrate-lawn-weedkiller-500ml-330msq/p/0453235

Would not recommend the hand spray bottles of ready mixed weedkiller as we found it can easily overspray which then kills all the grass around the weed you treat.

 

Your neighbour is not responsible for how you maintain your garden any more than you are responsible for theirs. If their garden was a blank sheet of concrete you'd still get dandelions coming in. The seeds travel miles and miles on the breeze.

Some folks like dandelions. Some don't. For the latter, it's not a problem. Just get a large flat blade screwdriver and push it into the ground right next to each dandelion, then lever it up so that most of the tap root just lifts out.

 

Yep I do, lovely cheery flowers in the sun and the bedewed seed heads are nice sight as well.
One spring at Westernbirt Arboretum I looked over a fence a into a grass field that was a mass of dandelion seed heads and the slightest breath of breeze caused clouds of seeds to drift away, beautiful, unless you had to deal with the results.

 

I never use any chemicals in the garden to get rid of weeds. Any worms I come across when I'm pottering about go straight in my fish tanks. I can't risk the chance of worms ingesting chemicals and potentially causing problems with my fish.

So I have to do it manually. I don't mind really but it's something you have to keep on top of because those damn things will take over.

I have a long thin forked tool which you push down in the centre of the dandelion. A sharp twist and you can get most of the roots out, but it's not perfect and more often than not you leave roots in, which will send up another plant.

I tend to weed the dandelions out just as the flower buds are opening. They stick out like sore thumbs on the lawn. Just when I think I've got them all, the next day there'll be some more opening!!

Eventually I'll get them all and go the whole summer dandelion free. But the following spring a new "batch" will swing into action.

 

I tend to leave the dandelions.
In the summer its often only the green bit showing.

 

One years seeds, seven years weeds as the saying goes. Remove flower heads as soon as you see them, hand weed an area 1m x 1m with a grubber as shown above. You don't knacker yourself out doing it all in one go, plus you'll need your strength for the first 18 years of having a child!

 

Another vote for hand weeding. An old table knife works well and it's quite therapeutic to sit on the grass and pull the things up.

If you have any small pets, or know anyone with guinea pigs, rabbits, degus or the like, dry your harvest (root and all) for food/ treat. Dried dandelion is super popular treat and in the pet shops it costs an arm and a leg

Dandelion also has various culinary uses if one is that way inclined. I have tried, apparently I'm not.

Avoiding chemical weedkillers is a very good thing to do for the environment and for the pocket. When your baby starts eating everything in sight (or when your teenager turns up sleeping on the grass after a night out), you'll know it's safe.

The results will never be picture perfect but if one learns to accept that, great.

But, if you do go down chemical route, 4-in-1 products are effective as long as the instructions are followed very carefully.

 

I've tried them. The leaves are, as you will know, a bit bitter on their own, but chopped finely and mixed with boring iceberg they add a decent flavour.

I've also on occasion bust up the odd flower head and used it to add a bit of colour to rice. The petals have a much more subtle flavour than the leaves.

 

I think you are supposed to blanch the leaves before eating, a bit like chicory.

I think that coffee was made out of the roasted roots in Germany in WW2 and I think rubber was even tried out of the sap.

 

I prefer to just keep on top of removing the seedheads as soon as they start to form on the plants in our lawn. I completely remove the ones I find it the borders though .

 

There are quite a few herbicides available to treat them, you can spot spray to cut down on chemical use unless the lawn is caked in them.