We are conditioned to see dandelions and other wildflowers and plants as 'weeds'.
We are conditioned to destroy dandelions, by mowing, weeding and creating a mowed down lawn which has no hint of life on it. It just ends up a green flat space with no life on it, and creates a patch of land that goes to waste as it isn't used for anything. Which is a real shame, because our lawns and gardens can be used to benefit wildlife and ourselves too.
Before we get on to the benefits of letting dandelions grow, we are first going to look at how we treat and look at our gardens in the modern world -
Why are we so obsessed with destroying any hint of nature in our gardens these days?
Why do we mow our lawns at the hint of any wildflower or little growth of grass on our lawns?
Why do we 'weed' to the point of destroying all hints of wildflowers and plants in our gardens?
Why do we spray harmful chemicals like weedkillers in our gardens? Why do we put slug pellets down in our gardens which can harm hedgehogs, birds and other wildlife too? Do we realize that it can harmful wildlife, or do people just not care?
Is it any wonder that we have a decline in insects, birds, hedgehogs and more, when there is such hostility towards nature by humans.
Humans are at war with nature, but why? Why the hostility to other animals that we share this world with, and why the hostility to the beauty of nature, the beautiful flowers and plants that it gives us.
Nature gives us a lot of benefits, and allowing animals to live on this world alongside us, in peace, feels like a moral duty every one of us has.
One of the ways that we can help nature and wildlife, is, by letting the dandelions grow in our garden.
Dandelions are an important pollinator for bees, hover fly and other insects. By letting dandelions grow in your garden, you will help to stop the decline in bees and other insects, and, since insects are an important food source for birds, you will also be helping to stop the decline in birds if you let dandelions grow.
Letting dandelions grow also adds beauty and spring/summer joy to your garden - looking at wildflowers on your lawn, like dandelions, daisies and other wildflowers adds some cheerfulness and beauty to your garden, isn't looking at beautiful flowers better than looking at a bland and lifeless piece of ground?
When many of us love flowers, and even pay for them, why is it we destroy the sight of them in our own gardens?
We'd have free beautiful flowers that nature gives us in our gardens if we let them grow. Are we conditioned to destroy them because the gardening, insecticides, herbicides and pesticides industries benefits from our destruction of wildflowers - if we let native wildflowers grow in our gardens, wouldn't we buy less flowers and plants in stores? Wouldn't their be a decline in the purchasing of pesticides, herbicides and insecticides?
There are also many benefits for us to in letting dandelions grow.
Not only are dandelions beautiful to look at, they also have a wide range of uses that we can benefit from. There's lots of things that you can make with dandelions, as every part of the dandelion is edible - it's flowers are edible, it's leafs are edible and it's roots are even edible.
Here is a list of things that you can make with dandelions -
. Tea
. Coffee
. Soap
. Body creams
. Lip balm
. Cookies
. Shortbread
. Sweets
. Juice
. Honey/syrup
. Jelly
. Leafs can be used for salad
. Dandelion vinegar
. Cupcakes
. Oil
. And, they can be used in the bath.
There are many different things that dandelions can be used for. They can also be added to recipes and food you might already cook - the BBC food page has it's own list of dandelion recipes that you can try.
The good thing about dandelions is that they are very easy to grow, and you will get a recurring use out of them throughout the spring and summer, as when you harvest dandelion flowers and leafs they grow back very quickly - just make sure to not take the root out of the ground of those dandelions that you want to reuse.
You can also harvest and preserve some if you want to use them during the Autumn and Winter months - if you want to add some spring and summer cheerfulness to your home for the Autumn and Winter months you could always freeze them.
If you want to use them for food or drinks in the Autumn and Winter you can learn how to preserve them right by freezing them or drying them out and keeping them in an airtight container. Drying and grinding down dandelions will probably result in them lasting longer.
Here are some tips for harvesting dandelion flowers:
. Harvest the flowers when they are open
Dandelions close at night and when the sun is not out, so it's best to harvest them on a sunny day when they will be open.
. Harvest them before they go to seed
Dandelions are also beautiful when they go to seed, and you don't need to harvest every dandelion you have, just the ones you will use. Dandelions go to seed when they turn into a fluffy white ball, so if you want to use the flower, you have to harvest it before it goes to seed.
. You can also harvest the seeds
When the dandelion goes to seed, it's a great time to harvest and store the seeds if you are looking to plant more dandelions - this is especially helpful if you are taking the dandelions out by the roots to use the roots, you don't need to spend money and buy more seeds, the plant will give you free seeds itself.
So, if you want more dandelion seeds, let at least one dandelion go to seed, so that you have free seeds. You could plant the seeds yourself right away and plant the seeds in plant pots, or create your own dandelion corner, or you could store the seeds in a brown paper bag and store them for future use, or, you can do both.
There are many benefits and uses of dandelions, growing them in our own garden can help during a cost-of-living crisis, and can help us reduce our negative impact on the environment and natural world - growing herbs, vegetables and fruits in our own garden can help reduce our impact on nature and the environment, it can also help us to make use of our gardens to help us make use of them to help wildlife, nature and ourselves. It is the environmental and lifestyle change we need, which will also reduce our use of plastic and reduce our carbon footprint.
Let the dandelions grow in your garden.
Create a space for them - a dandelion corner, growing them in plant pots etc.
You will be helping the bees, insects, birds and other wildlife, and, you will also be helping yourself, by giving yourself a flower that you can make jelly, tea, coffee, syrup, honey, cookies, soaps, cream and much much more out of.
Changing our lifestyle and outlook on life can help to benefit nature and the environment, the answer to some of the environmental and nature crises is right in front of us, it's partly about how we use our gardens, and tapping into an outlook on life that we humans have lost - living in harmony with nature and environment rather than living against it. To change how we impact the environment and nature, we have to change how we have been doing things, to create a different lifestyle and society.
Let the dandelions grow, for yourself, the insects, wildlife, nature and environment. Perhaps changing the way we've viewed our gardens is how we can live an environmentally-friendly, nature-friendly and positive lifestyle.