A few days ago as I was doing my garden check, I noticed an abundance of yellow. As I got closer, I recognized the culprits as none other than... dandelions! They were sprouting and mocking me every way I turned!
I got out my trusty vinegar spray bottle... ZAP! .... and I sprayed some of the dandelion plants nearest me. The sun was shining warmly, which apparently works to speed up the acidic acid to the dandelion leaves. Gotcha!
Results: The next day, the dandelion leaves had turned brown and shrivelled up, but so did the grass around each dandelion. Now we have all these dead spots on the lawn.... :(
Worse still, today I noticed that each of the so called "dead" dandelions was sending up flower buds which were still very much alive! Back to the drawing board!
It was a coolish overcast day today so I decided the manual method would work best today. I took my pointy garden trowel and dug up piles and piles of dandelions. It felt like several thousand, as I was crawling around on the lawn (green knees on my jeans to prove it!); although 200 might be a more accurate estimate...
Even the dandelions by the driveway which my husband had zapped with Killex were mostly still hanging in there! I guess the deluge of rain we had not long after didn't help.
Dig, dig, dig, DIG! Now many of them are in messy piles on the lawn. I'm going to leave them there overnight to frighten and intimidate the rest of their still growing companions. (Do you think my technique will work?)
You have to admire the tenacity and survival ability of the darn things! If there ever is an Armageddon and the plants on Mother Earth die, the last one to go will be the dandelion (followed by quack grass, my other nemesis, as a close second!)
I can just see it now.... Thousands of years later some aliens will accidently discover this otherwise dead planet formerly known as Earth. They will be amazed, upon disembarking from their spacecraft, as they gaze around at the happy-looking little yellow flowers surrounded by rosettes of spiky green leaves. They will immediately take some specimens back to their planet to study and the lowly dandelion will propagate on another planet in the solar system, starting it's incidious battle all over again to dominate!
New policy: If it's blooming little yellow flowers, dig it out!
On the other hand, they are kind of pretty little yellow flowers, aren't they? Maybe I should cultivate them, encourage them to grow instead of battling to prevent it Go into business making fresh dandelion salad or bootleg dandelion wine. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
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