I'm a beekeeper .... currently 8 hives in our garden. Dandelions are a great early source of both pollen and nectar ... and I'm more than happy for them to grow and multiply in the wild meadow area where the bees are. If any seedlings stray into the garden borders they are easily hoicked out.
Lovely sunny coloured flowers ... young leaves are good in salads (bit like rocket) ... and the milky sap of the root when cut apparently cures warts! What's not to like!
Bee x
Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
I agree with whoever said that if they were rare, everyone would want some. The flowers are beautiful and so cheerful. Yet my MiL used to go mad when she saw one
Like PP I love watching the goldfinches feeding on them. The plants grow between the paving flags on the terrace and the birds work their way along methodically, leaving neat little piles of discarded parachutes behind. They usually get them before they open fully, but I saw one once balancing on on a single dandelion clock, picking off the individual seeds.
I also like to add a few leaves to perk up a salad and am trying to decide where in my veg garden I can fit in a row. The guinea pigs loved them and the hens and geese all make a point of seeking them out. The sheep though don't seem to like them at all.
KILL! I just pulled out nearly an entire wheelbarrow full from the veg garden, I am not joking, I was not here last year from about may so these were wonderful inch thick taproot specimens. Up here they are not even in bud yet, and they only last a week or so before the show is gone. I do leave them in the lawn, and infact nearly everywhere except the veg garden, but that is more to do with laziness than anything else!
I remove them from borders. ( why do they always seem to find a way of germinating in the middle of a Hosta clump ) but leave them in the grass, of which we have acres. @Bee witched we have 3 bee hives at the bottom of our garden and it's nice to seem them out and about after the long winter.
I love them but not in borders. Our front 'lawn' is smothered in them and it is a lovely sight! We have bees too and they enjoy the nectar. In Norway a small company produces a dandelion liqueur from the flowers. Might be worth a try!
I am Dandelion free but have no worries about wildlife as half the road looks like a rape field in full bloom, they then ask me how i keep them off my land. My reply much more easily if you lot did some work in your gardens. I know I will get my coat. Frank.
Posts
Dandelions are a great early source of both pollen and nectar ... and I'm more than happy for them to grow and multiply in the wild meadow area where the bees are.
If any seedlings stray into the garden borders they are easily hoicked out.
Lovely sunny coloured flowers ... young leaves are good in salads (bit like rocket) ... and the milky sap of the root when cut apparently cures warts!
What's not to like!
Bee x
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Like PP I love watching the goldfinches feeding on them. The plants grow between the paving flags on the terrace and the birds work their way along methodically, leaving neat little piles of discarded parachutes behind. They usually get them before they open fully, but I saw one once balancing on on a single dandelion clock, picking off the individual seeds.
I also like to add a few leaves to perk up a salad and am trying to decide where in my veg garden I can fit in a row. The guinea pigs loved them and the hens and geese all make a point of seeking them out. The sheep though don't seem to like them at all.
@Bee witched we have 3 bee hives at the bottom of our garden and it's nice to seem them out and about after the long winter.
I love them but not in borders. Our front 'lawn' is smothered in them and it is a lovely sight! We have bees too and they enjoy the nectar. In Norway a small company produces a dandelion liqueur from the flowers. Might be worth a try!
Frank.