Ooops....

kimmie

When I looked at my garden this morning the lawn was covered in dandylions, so I decided to pick the flowers off.... after an hour of picking I thought Oh no, when you deadhead flowers lots more come back... Will the same thing happen, have I made a booboo :-(

choille

No.

You get a good tool - a piece of flat metal with a dip in it & a forked end - good for prising them out.

kimmie

I do have one of those and I did start off that way but there are sooo many I wouldn't have had any lawn left!!

Rummer

Could you not use one of those multipurpose weed and feed things on your lawn?

Mortal

Salt. The gardening section of my local site swears by pouring salt on the weed.

Lotus-eater

Dandelions are really clever little plants. if you take the flowers off them, the next flowers they produce are shorter..... and shorter, until they barely have a stem at all and are difficult (not to mention time consuming to pick off)
Keep at the digging up of them.

Soubrette

kimmie wrote: »

When I looked at my garden this morning the lawn was covered in dandylions, so I decided to pick the flowers off.... after an hour of picking I thought Oh no, when you deadhead flowers lots more come back... Will the same thing happen, have I made a booboo :-(

Use them as a food crop - go over to old style and search Dandelion Honey

Sou

MrsTinks

Deadheading dandylions is a fairly futile exercise sadly Yes it will help prevent more seeds - but unless you do a HUGE area around where you live more will arrive eventually
Either dig the little blighters up or use a weed killer you can apply to the leaves which will kill the root too...

tim_n

leave them, bees love them and they're pretty and yellow?

The biggest roots make lovely beer :- )

Lotus-eater

tim_n wrote: »

leave them, bees love them and they're pretty and yellow?

Some parts of my "lawn" are dandelions only, they are a very hardwearing surface tbh and they look green, so from a distance, not bad looking.
Plus as you say the lovely flowers, aren't people on here always asking what to do to help wildlife? Not having a immaculate lawn is a starter.

Soubrette

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Some parts of my "lawn" are dandelions only, they are a very hardwearing surface tbh and they look green, so from a distance, not bad looking.
Plus as you say the lovely flowers, aren't people on here always asking what to do to help wildlife? Not having a immaculate lawn is a starter.

I used to hate dandelions with a passion, I'm sure mostly do with the ha ha now you'll wet the bed teasing that most children do when you pick them

Then when my daughter was about 2 or 3 she came racing over the top of a little hill with a dandelion in her hand saying excitedly "look mummy, it looks like the sun", it makes me feel all nostalgic even now but I can't see them without remembering that moment

Sou