As the warmer weather approaches, the rain is sticking around, and it makes the perfect atmosphere for dandelions to grow. Here’s how to remove dandelions from your lawn in three simple steps.
Dandelions might be fun for children to blow once the heads have turned fuzzy, but gardeners and lawn enthusiasts curse when they see the cheery yellow flower heads popping up.
While some argue dandelions are wildflowers, they can push out grass and other plants, as well as sapping water and nutrients away from surrounding plants.
There are several methods to remove dandelions, and all must be performed every year due to the fact seeds can travel several miles on the wind, and it’s virtually impossible to remove the weed permanently from a garden or lawn.
Dandelions might be fun for children to blow once the heads have turned fuzzy, but gardeners and lawn enthusiasts curse when they see the cheery yellow flower heads popping up.
While some argue dandelions are wildflowers, they can push out grass and other plants, as well as sapping water and nutrients away from surrounding plants.
There are several methods to remove dandelions, and all must be performed every year due to the fact seeds can travel several miles on the wind, and it’s virtually impossible to remove the weed permanently from a garden or lawn.
Dig them out
“The most effective, but also the most time consuming”, according to Gardening Know How, is hand digging them out.
This should be done in the spring, when the first dandelion seedlings appear, to make the job easier.
The roots (or taproots for their official name) of dandelions are said to run deep – about four to six inches – so you must remove the entire root to be successful.
Because dandelion roots grow so deep, it is unlikely that every dandelion in the lawn will be removed in the first round of hand digging.
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But to do so, you’ll need a long knife or small garden fork, or some gardeners recommend using a screwdriver.
Make a deep cut downwards into the soil, on all four sides around the dandelion, then pull it out.
Next, sprinkle top soil into the hole that’s left behind and some grass seed, water, and the lawn should grow back in a couple of weeks but “the dandelions won’t grow back”.
White vinegar
According to National Greenhouse’s director Tom Hilton, white vinegar is an effective way to remove dandelions from lawns.
But, for it to be “most effective”, white vinegar needs to be applied when the dandelion is less than two weeks old.
Try creating a spray of 5 percent vinegar and 95 percent water, and spritz the small week.
Tom said: “Make sure to aim for the roots, base, and then gradually spray up and down, making sure to give a good few applications.”
The dandelion should turn brown in a couple of days and die down to the root.
Cover them
“For larger weeds and dandelions, cover them over after treating to block the sunlight,” Calum Maddock, Homehow’s gardening expert suggested.
“This will help you to kill off the whole plant rather than just the leaves.”
In terms of what to cover the dandelion with, a small plastic or terracotta plant pot should do the trick.
But if the pot is slightly too large, it can discolour the lawn and make the grass underneath, next to the dandelion die too.
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