The Dandelions can stay.

[Touchwood]

As we've not long moved in and the place was completely overgrown our first priority was to get the veg plots sorted, so the lawn has taken a back seat, (other than a quick rake and mow.) I've been wondering what to do with it as there is more dandelion than grass.
However I have just been doing the washing up and looking out of the window at 4 Goldfinches feasting on the seed heads. I think I'd rather see them than a pristine lawn so the dandelions are staying

[John Headstrong]

interesting, I also have given the dandelions a 'stay of execution' but not for the birds but for the bees, there is not a huge amount of flowers about at the mo, I was just heading out with my garden knife and saw a bee on one of the dandelions I was about to cut.

I decided to cull the ground elder instead

[Green Aura]

But you're both missing the opportunity of a free lunch - yes there is such a thing, well nearly.

Dandelion risotto, dandelion fritters, ground elder pancakes etc and.....dandelion wine is wonderful!

You can share them with the birds and the bees

[circlecross]

yes - dandelion fritters. For some reason the eldest is quite taken with dandelions this year, so I have decided to take a leaf out of Alys Fowler's glossy made-for-tv book and try dandelion fritters. Dandelion flowers in pancake batter and fried.

[Millymollymandy]

I missed most of the stunning yellow display whilst I was on holiday but it seems that this year there are gazillions more dandelions about than normal. I'm seeing fields full of flower heads which looks quite whispy and magical and there are tons more in my lawn too.

[snapdragon]

oops I just dead headed the dandies to encourage more flowers for the bees - should have left them for the goldfinches, ah well will leave the rest for them

[Kezz]

oops also, I just pulled all the dandelion heads off so OH could mow without shedding the seeds every where.

[Flo]

We've had this discussion down the gardeners association shed. I merely said that I always had a good population of pollinators with dandelions available. So I merely try to catch them before they become helicopter flights of seeds. Round the edges no problem. Someone else agreed with me so there's a sort of bee on dandelions watch going on.

[Shirley]

I missed most of the stunning yellow display whilst I was on holiday but it seems that this year there are gazillions more dandelions about than normal. I'm seeing fields full of flower heads which looks quite whispy and magical and there are tons more in my lawn too.

yes there do seem to be more this year - I'm keeping mine too :0*

[Kezz]

Can chickens eat the flower heads? I don't have any (yet) but I'm thinking ahead......

[Touchwood]

Our chickens trash anything in their run way before it gets to flowering, but you've got me wondering now. The rabbits love the flowers so I'll have to pick some for the chooks.

[sarahkeast]

my chickens dont like the flower heads, but they seem to be rather picky !

I have just decided to have a stay on the dandelions in the area that should be a lawn here too. In fact, I have just received an order of wild lawn flower plug plants to put in before I add some grass seed. Looked up what they sent and they are all the things that my ex used to dig out. Tee hee.

Looking forward to having a nice diverse and well populated lawn !

[Thomzo]

Can chickens eat the flower heads? I don't have any (yet) but I'm thinking ahead......

I noticed that one of my patio pots had survived the winter with only a large dandelion in occupation. So I put the whole thing in the chicken run. They devoured the leaves within seconds but took a long, hard, suspicious look at the dandelion heads. A couple of days later the flowers disappeared within a few minutes so I guess they do eat dandelion flowers, eventually.

Zoe

[JulieSherris]

............... so I guess they do eat dandelion flowers, eventually.

Zoe

Humph!! Not in my garden, they don't!!

Good job my favourite colour is yellow, huh?

[theabsinthefairy]

my chickens love dandelions - as do the rabbits - we can fill up a couple of buckets and feed the rabbits completely on them - roots, leaves and flower heads.

For more ideas on what to do with your crop/harvest of dandelions take a look at this page on my blog: edible, alcoholic and medicinal ideas...

http://theabsinthefairy.blogspot.com/20 ... eaven.html