Selfsufficientish.com

Gosh!
many thanks to everyone and I will try eating my dandelions in future - I couldn't be bothered to blanch them and didn't realise that they could eaten green

I personally regard nettles and dandelion plants as fertiliser I just haven't got round to using yet (the soak in water idea works well but is unbelievably pongy - I once had a visitor to the allotment just after I'd watered with it who clearly thought I was dumping fresh human faecal matter on the beds!)

It's the roots I worry about in the compost bin rather than the seeds. what do you think? will they survive to root another day?

Yes, they will! I bagged up my "finished" compost - and now I have what a friend called "bags of nettles"... Well, I grow tatties in bags, why not nettles.

Thanks, Ina - yes, that's what I feared! At least I know the worst, though - so thanks for that!

I tried the "dandelion roots roast and ground for coffee idea" a while back. Probably not worth the effort in my opinion - it took a lot of work to dig up, trim and clean the roots and then, after I had dried them in the oven ("free" energy after cooking something) and ground them up I got a fairly weak and bitter drink that wasn't unpalatable but didn't inspire me to repeat the experiment.

YMMV, especially if you have a lot of big healthy dandelions...

Wulf

I seem to remember dandelion root tea is used for a cure for something, I think it's tennis elbow...