The yellow heads of dandelions are immensely pleasing in the spring, when their bright inflorescences gaily puff over the green grass. After a boring and long winter, it is like a promise of a hot, sunny summer. But the joy quickly passes, it is worth seeing this disgrace on your own well-groomed lawn. There is no time for sentiment. The fight against dandelions is a very exhausting affair.
Weed is not destroyed for any special aesthetic reasons. Just if you leave at least one plant alone, it will instantly multiply and displace other cultivated herbs. The unpretentiousness of dandelion is known. It doesn’t matter to him whether it is drought, whether it rains without ceasing, he will survive any bad weather. Its seeds are carried by the wind. Light silver parachutes travel fairly decent distances, as soon as they fall to the ground, they are immediately ready to sprout.
The fight against dandelions on the lawn is complicated by the fact that the powerful root of the plant goes 25 cm deep into the soil. It is completely difficult to remove it, since it breaks easily, and any part of it, even a very small one, can give life to a new shoot. So you have to pull the annoying weed all summer.
What methods did mankind come up with for all those, perhaps, centuries that an irreconcilable struggle against dandelions is being waged? The simplest and most environmentally absolutely harmless is to dig out yellow flowers with a root, without waiting for them to bloom and let their seeds go into free flight. However, the word “simple” is not entirely true here. Physical costs of this method require significant.
First of all, to lighten your work a little, water the lawn first: it is easier to pull out weeds on the lawn from damp, supple ground. Do not grab onto the leaves, you will not be able to immediately extract the plant, most likely, just tear off the top. Dig up the soil in front of the root in several places. A shovel is not good for this. Use a knife or buy a special tool in the store. The latter is a screw consisting of blades, similar to the
Latin letter V. The tip of the device is immersed in the ground with a dandelion and a button is pressed. The tool, along with the soil, gently removes the plant.
There are, of course, more radical methods. Chemical herbicides and insecticides are sold at every corner. Working with them is unsafe, so strictly abide by the rules.
Are you afraid of the harm done by chemistry? Try grandma's recipes. For example, the fight against dandelions can be carried out using table salt. Pour it into the center of the rosette
of dandelion leaves: after a while, it will burn out, leaving a brown stain. No wonder in ancient times, the Romans, to break the barbarians, sprinkled salt on their fields. No crops - no crops. Be careful not to hook the plants you need. Vinegar has a similar effect.
The fight against dandelions includes not only measures for their active destruction. Sometimes preventive measures give good results. What is easier - do not remove the cut grass from the lawn. Mulch not only fertilizes the soil, but also prevents the germination of weeds. It is more difficult for seeds to gain a foothold on the ground; shoots of a plant lack sunlight to actively grow. Periodically sow the lawn by planting new grass in place of bald spots.
But the main thing is the attitude to the matter itself. If you learn to benefit from the seemingly most unpleasant activities, then the process will no longer cause deaf irritation. Think about how many vitamins are in the weed you hate! Do not throw away torn dandelions, it is better to add them to a salad, cook jam or honey from flowers.