Sunday, April 03, 2011

Those Pesky Dandelions


This afternoon, Weston and I were having fun tilling up our little vegetable garden. Although I had cleaned out the garden fairly well, there were two persnickety dandelions left over. Instead of whacking them to bits, I decided to dig them out to see just how big their taproots had become. I wasn't expecting a multiple-branched root system system, however. Our deck boards are six inches wide, and all but the top green leaves were exposed.

Although this plant is reviled by many, you've got to appreciate it's gigantic tap root.

Tom

10 comments:

  1. Wow that is big. I love the feeling of roots popping under the soil as you pull them out.

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  2. Yes! And I equally hate the sound when the tap root snaps off just an inch or so below the ground. :)

    Tom

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  3. Our yard is a Dandelion haven with anal-retentive neighbors dowsing theirs with lawn chemicals all around. My "perfect lawn" includes dandelions :^)

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  4. Woah! That's aMAzing! Explains a lot! =)

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  5. You can make a tasty coffee from dried dandelion roots. Except it tastes nothing like coffee. I like it though.

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  6. Hi Tom...I sure you have heard from you in laws that we are not doing any "tilling" here!!, but I'm sure we will have plenty of dandeloins to deal with soon enough!!
    I have had some with some real dozy of a root on them in my gardens.
    I know people who dig them out of there lawn..what in the world are they thinking,when the field next door is full of them just waiting to have there seed fall on that well fertilized and groomed surface.. hahaha!!

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  7. A.- I wish everyone would just give up on the lawn chemicals- people have no clue how bad they are.

    Babbler- Yes, I know that they have big taproots, but this is just huge.

    RD- That's pretty interesting. I wonder if we could use the filter attachment and put it through our Keurig coffe maker?

    Grammie- Yeah, I heard about the snow, my father-in-law fortunately got to spend a little time with his dad in South Carolina, and even got some golfing in.

    Tom

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  8. Tom - re the coffee - roots need to be washed, chopped, ground up in a food processor and then oven roasted for around 2 hours at 250 degrees (F) to completely dry them out (leave oven door slightly open) - then you can just make it like instant coffee. Or - you could just buy some at a health food store!
    Check this out - a link about the benefits
    http://www.livestrong.com/article/193413-the-health-benefits-of-dandelion-root-coffee-substitute/

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  9. Wow - impressive root system there! Have you ever heard of microclover? I heard about it at a conference - it's a clover that's bred to be small and not produce big flowers. It's a way to get people who don't like the "unkempt" look of multiple species growing in their lawn to allow something besides grass to grow in their yards! And, of course, it fixes N, so it "fertilizes" the lawn naturally. When I someday have a yard again, I might try it out, but I also plan to let the dandelions and whatever else grow!

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  10. Oh, how I miss dandelions! I am in Texas now and I see very few of them now.

    I stumbled upon your blog looking for even more info on the Dandy Dandelion!

    The dandelion coffee info is great (thanks RD!)

    I found some wonderful recipes. If you want some ideas for those blossoms and leaves feel free to take a peek: Dandy Dandelions

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