by Elizabeth Spence
Getting rid of dandelions can be one of the gardener’s perennial chores. Especially from our lawns. We want a clear, pristine space with nothing to disrupt the perfect stretches of green. If we mow carefully we can get the lovely stripes as well. Doesn’t that look classy? Isn’t it artistic?
But as soon as dandelions appear, out come the weedkillers, trowels or dandelion pullers. Here’s one from Amazon where you don’t even have to bend:
Yet caring for a lawn is a lot of work all round when you include the mowing, raking, fertilizing and watering
Nowadays, there is more and more movement away from perfect lawns like this. You can turn your lawn into a meadow with wild flowers, these days called “wildscaping,” or you can go as far as not mowing your lawn at all and just leaving it, even if it is full of dandelions. Such a “natural” lawn has its own type of beauty.
And dandelions are great for improving the soil: their long tap-roots go deep and access nutrients that the grass can’t get at, so it’s not as if they are stealing food from anything else. At the same time they aerate the soil; are a wonderful source of nectar and pollen for insects, and you can eat every part of them.
In fact, in the 1600s, the settlers to North America brought dandelions with them to use as food, as a flavouring and as medicine (a good diuretic which is why the flower sometimes used to be called “pissabed”, or, if you want to be posh and use French: “piss-en-lit.”)
The pioneers also used them for the naturally occurring yeasts on them so they could make their own wine. (Aside: have a look at Ray Bradbury’s novel Dandelion Wine, a tale exploring time, memory and childhood awakenings. If you want a more acid, disturbing take on capturing the past, read George Orwell’s Coming Up for Air).
The dandelion is very useful for something else.
In our article on the Last Frost Date we noted that Jennifer had discovered Greg Auton in Halifax who had been examining the dandelion as an “indicator plant.” That is to say, a plant that can tell you something – in this case, when it’s safe to transplant or sow seed outside based on what it is doing.
“When you see it in its various stages,” writes Greg, “it is a reminder to start thinking about planting the things that can handle the soil temperature at that stage,” although he cautions that it can only be a general guide.
In the chart he provides, he gives the vegetables that can be sown according to where the dandelion is in its growth: the green represents when the plant is leafing out, the yellow when it’s in flower, and the white when it has gone to seed.
This is all very well, you might say. But by leaving a lawn to grow wild in our area, you are providing a snug home for mosquitoes and ticks right near the house. So that’s the end of that!
There is a way around it. Here’s what I do:
I leave the dandelions as indicator plants in my lawn until they have just set seed – then I pull them out or just mow them down when I start that job a bit later in the season than I normally would.
This way, I have my pretty, “wild” and informative lawn until the dandelions have more or less finished their cycle, and a manicured lawn in the summer so that the ticks and mosquitoes don’t have much of a welcoming place to hang-out.
If you don’t have dandelions in your garden, you can check what they are doing in the ditches and fields around you. The microclimate might not be exactly the same, but they will give you a general idea.
So, there we have it. By observing the dandelion, that much maligned spring flower, we know at one glance when to start transplanting and sowing seed outside. You don’t have to do anything really. Just look and take note. They are also very pretty, especially if we don’t think of them as weeds.
Who needs government charts or experts on the internet when nature does it all for us?
We just have to learn to read what is all around us.
April, 2025
Here are a couple of George’s dandelion seed head pictures. Gorgeous!
