Dandelions - giving plants what they want
- Subject: Dandelions - giving plants what they want
- From: "Annies Magic Garden" m*@swbell.net
- Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2003 00:41:29 -0600
Claire said:
> I saw some mountains in Chile last winter and along the roadsides looking
> down from the elderly, rickety old bus were dandelions and chicory and
yuck,
I know nearly everyone hates Dandelions but I have learned to leave them
mostly alone unless they are crowding out another plant. Dandelions with
their deep tap root perform a service by bringing up minerals from deep down
and as the leaves decompose, return them to the surface where they are more
readily available to other plants as they slowly leach back down.
Dandelion greens are extremely high in calcium, vitamin A, potassium, and
other trace minerals and vitamins as well as proteins. Since Dandelions
would quickly take over every bed, I rotate out year to year which beds get
weeded and which are allowed to grow. The pulled ones are used as mulch in
other poor areas, quickly decompose, and help build new beds enriched with
minerals.
I also let them get very thick in raw areas where they choke out sticker
burrs and other noxious weeds, then mow the next crop of flowers before they
can produce seeds and just dig them greens into the bed, plant, mulch, and
keep going. A few will pop up here and there but aren't hard to deal with.
In March it looks like Easter here with the wild magenta colored Phlox and
yellow Dandelions. I have to wear sunglasses to look at the fields or go
blind. LOL
I figure if I can't beat 'em, use 'em.
Linda (who has Dandelions blooming now, 2 months early!)
Leming, TX
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