I’m fighting a war . . . with dandelions.
I think they’re winning. But I won’t give up! I’ve enlisted help. I’m paying Connor a penny a flower. If the flowers are gone – no new plants right?? He’s picked 700++ so far. Yay! Gwyneth has picked about 45. Connor is learning the value of earning money from hard work and how to count past 100 (since we count the flowers he picks together too). We’re trying to keep our lawn organic, but the dandelions are strong little buggers. Picked up corn gluten today and I’m going to spread that out tomorrow. (For those of you who don’t know, corn gluten is a great organic way to prevent the germination of new dandelions.) I keep mowing and mowing them down too, but they just keep coming back. I’ve been digging up the plant with roots as best I can, but it seems a never ending task. They can be quite beautiful flowers (insert gasp of great shock here), I just wish they wouldn’t spread so easily. If only the leaves looked more like grass. . . . .
OK, enough ranting. Must include sewing time tomorrow or my sanity will be questionable.
I have the same problem… it looks great to a certain point. But then they spread at a rate that seems from day to day!!.
Remove the root is all you can do and that can be tricky. The root is a bit weaker when they bloom.
Good luck! I am fighting over here on your site. I have the same strategy. Picking them when they are blooming yellow. I think over years they were becoming fewer. I hope!
Keep your grass a bit longer, when the grass is taller there is less space for the dandelion to germinate. We keep our lawn mower set at the highest level possible and it helps a lot. Good luck!
My 3 yr old wouldn’t be welcome in your garden (although he’d probably love to help pick the pretty flowers!) because he loves blowing the seeds on a ‘dandelion clock’. :o)
I actually think dendelions are very pretty too! They’re technically wildflowers, so why not embrace them? I’ve heard that the secret to keeping them from spreading is to deadhead them at the end of the season before they get all fluffy and go to seed