Dandelion Days

 Are you a Dandelion Killer? If you have a lawn, the dandelions are bound to show up.  While dandelions are often one of the first flowers to herald the arrival of spring, most of us go running for the RoundUp with the first one we see.

While I have never eaten dandelion greens, the taste has been described as cool, sweet, and sometimes bitter. I can supposedly aid a number of organs, including the heart. Thus, they are not just a healthy, organic alternative to supermarket greens, they are also very economical! Just harvest from your own backyard! If you usually douse your dandelions with chemical killers, just think of the money you will save by tossing these greens in a soup pot or salad bowl instead.  According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a serving of uncooked dandelion leaves contains 280 percent of  an adult's daily requirement of beta carotene as well as more than half the requirement of vitamin C.

Dandelions can be beneficial to your garden ecosystem as well as to your health. Dandelions attract beneficial ladybugs.

1) In a study done at the University of Wisconsin, experimental plots with dandelions had more ladybugs than dandelion-free plots.

2) The vegetable and flower garden will be less bothered by pesky aphids, as aphids happens to be a favorite food of the ladybugs.

3) The long roots of the dandelion aerate the soil and enable the plant to accumulate minerals.

4) These minerals are then added back into the soil when the plant dies. 

Dandelion salad will not be on any of my dinner menus.  But when I see a perfectly round, delicate white globe of a dandelion that has gone to seed, I'm taken back to the days of playing in the backyard and enjoying the simple pleasure of blowing all those tiny, down parachutes into the wind.  Before you blow, make a wish...and then be sure to blow away all the tufts with one blow if you want your wish to come true.

May you now see dandelions with new eyes.