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seven Reasons Why You Should Appreciate the Dandelions Popping Up Everywhere
In that location are enough of good things to say about the weed America loves to detest. Here's a few that may alter your listen about this humble plant.
Dandelions and I accept a special bail. They helped me earn my starting time Sting-Ray bike. That was the deal I struck with my father when I was a kid: weed the unabridged large, front backyard by hand in substitution for a shiny new banana-seat bike with Piece of cake Rider handlebars. Frankly, the dandelions were a piece of cake to remove. You could spot them easily and excerpt them in a snap with a garden weeder, which looks kind of like a screwdriver with an oversized V-shaped caput. It was the creeping veronica and crabgrass that acquired me the nigh grief (I don't accept anything practiced to say virtually them). Simply I do have plenty of good reasons to appreciate dandelions beyond my childhood weeding experience.
Apparently, I'chiliad not the only one with a soft spot: Dandelions were intentionally brought to N America by European settlers in the 17th century. Some say information technology was for medicinal purposes, or as a nutrient crop, but information technology too could accept been because they reminded the newcomers of their homelands. For whatever reason, it was a conscious determination. Even the name points to its European roots, which comes from the French term "dent de lion," significant "tooth of the king of beasts," and refers to the species' deeply toothed leaf edges.
Benefits of Dandelions
With cottony seeds that travel far distances on the wind, this herbaceous perennial soon escaped tillage and became something resembling a pest to people who didn't get to know them. Dandelions are kind of like that misunderstood friend you take. Someone says something negative nigh them and you feel compelled to reply with a "aye, but..." response. And then if you inquire me whether dandelions can be a pest, I'll have to reply, "Yep, merely they tin exist beneficial too." Here's how.
1. They're Pretty
Those yellow flowers are a delightful care for afterward a grey and dull winter. If yous've ever seen a dandelion lawn in full flower, it'due south a cheery sight. Yeah, it looks a fleck messy a few weeks later when it goes to seed, but that only means more than of those vivid blooms will exist showing up after.
ii. They're Fun
C'mon, what kid didn't similar mashing the yellow flowers into someone's face to leave a yellow stain on their cheek? Or bravado the fluffy seed heads into the air to brand a wish? (Nature sure is stray in the way it disperses seeds finer, even stooping to kids' games.)
3. They're Edible
Dandelion leaves add a biting, fiery flavor to salads and soups. The bitterness takes a petty getting used to, which is why you might retrieve about adding dandelions in small-scale amounts to your salad. Y'all can as well cook the greens to brand them less biting. In any upshot, always harvest juvenile plants, which are less bitter. It goes without saying that you don't want to harvest dandelions from lawns that take been treated with herbicides or pesticides.
4. They're Healthy
Adding dandelion greens to your diet can have several wellness benefits considering they are low in calories and loaded with vitamins and nutrients. Two of those nutrients, lutein and zeaxanthin, play a role in salubrious eyesight. Dandelion greens also contain Vitamin A, which is important to eyesight and supports the growth of new claret cells, and Vitamin Thou, which regulates the formation of blood clots and maintains healthy bones. Dandelion greens also provide Vitamin C and calcium.
5. They're Medicinal
Dandelion roots and leaves are dried and used to make a tea, which is said to help detoxify the liver, ameliorate digestion and help weight loss. Dandelion's use as a medicinal herb goes back to 900 AD, and recent research suggests it may concord hope in fighting cancer. (Of course, ever consult your doctor earlier beginning any kind of medicinal regimen.)
vi. They're Ecological
Small birds eat the seeds and several types of pollinators become nectar from the flowers. Allowed to fully develop, taproots can penetrate hardpan, a layer of compacted soil, to extract calcium from the subsoil. (Fun fact: dandelion roots can grow 10 to xv feet into the basis!) In addition, dandelions are amidst the get-go weeds to colonize disturbed land. That may audio bad, but remember, nature abhors bare basis. And so-called weeds fight erosion.
vii. They're a Kick
Dandelion leaves can add color and nutrition to whatsoever only about whatsoever recipe that calls for greens.
| Credit: Jason Donnelly
Ways to Use Dandelion Greens
I'm all for sneaking my vegetables into meals whenever possible. That's why I like to make hearty soups and stews: you tin can easily skid in nutritious vegetables. Dandelion greens are no different. Cut upwardly the leaves and add them to other salad greens. Toss them in a sandwich or omelet. They besides work well in pasta dishes, like this recipe for linguini with sausage and greens.
How to Grow Dandelions
You're kidding, right? They're indestructible. They don't demand whatever assist! True, which is why you lot demand to continue them from becoming a nuisance. If yous want to grow them on purpose to eat, my suggestion would be to found them in big containers in full sun. Clip the flower stems regularly so they tin't go to seed. And harvest leaves when they are still modest so they are more than tender and less bitter. Although they actually don't need fertilizer, you could give them a shot of h2o-soluble plant food in one case a month to encourage more than leafage growth.
Deciding to go on dandelions in your landscape can exist a controversial decision, but these plucky picayune plants can be benign to you and your yard. Whether you utilise dandelions to feed wildlife and fight erosion or you love to add them to your salad, there are enough of dandelions to become effectually. So suspension a moment before you destroy them. They have a variety of ecological uses and their nutrients can even improve your wellness.
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Source: https://www.bhg.com/gardening/yard/lawn-care/keep-dandelions/
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