Exchanging dandelions for clover

This year's tulips

Some years ago, I was told that dandelions are essential plants that help pollinators survive early in the spring, and that it was better to leave them for the many varieties of bees that come out of hibernation looking for food. 

And so, I've written many moodlings about learning to like dandelions for the bees' sake. I happily ignored the dandelions on my grassy boulevard as it seemed a losing battle anyway (though I still dig them out of my perennial beds). I live across the street from a small area park that turns yellow every spring, and blows seed into my yard.

But this year, the Edmonton Horticultural Society webpage was abuzz with the news that dandelion pollen offers very little nutrition to bees, who much prefer the early violas and flowering trees and shrubs that I have in abundance in my yard. The EHS experts explained that, contrary to earlier knowledge, dandelions offer nothing of value when it comes to breaking up compacted soil or adding nutrients, either.

So, dear readers, you can ignore all my previous dandelion moodlings (though I still like the cheerfulness of those bright yellow flowers) because, well, I was wrong on many counts (as were many other people). It's good to admit my mistakes!

When I mentioned my mistake and my decision to reduce my dandelion crop to my neighbour, Wendy, she offered me a bag of white clover seed that I was delighted to receive. So for the past week or so, I've been digging dandelions and planting clover in the space they occupied. The effort has been wreaking havoc with my carpal tunnel, but it's very satisfying to pull up those long roots and imagine bees enjoying clover flowers instead. 

While I was digging today, I met a passerby who said that she had planted clover last summer, and it was doing well. It's often softer and greener than grass, and I remember our little dog loving to roll in it!

And... There's nothing like honey that comes from fields of clover! Besides, if I really want more dandelion jelly, I can always visit the park across the street...

Simple Suggestion #122 revisited... Learn to like dandelions

When I first wrote this moodling about dandelions in 2012, I had a much different attitude toward them than I do today. I spent hours and hours with my "weed hound," digging them out of our lawn in the company of my neighbour, Olga, who was doing the same in her yard. We were in solidarity, complaining about how the seeds from the little area park across the street blew into our yards and messed up our turf.

Since then, Olga has moved into senior's housing, we've used lasagna gardening to replace our front lawn with a big perennial bed, and my view of dandelions has changed. I've come to see them as a valuable part of our Edmonton ecosystems, providing the earliest food source for our bee populations.

Bees, both wild and domestic, aren't as plentiful as they used to be, thanks to climate change, pesticides and herbicides. Every year I seem to run across bees that aren't doing well, that seem to be reeling from illness (pesticide use?) or maybe it's just exhaustion because they work so hard. Regardless, the bee deaths I keep witnessing have distressed me to the point that it's a lot harder to pull up all the yellow flowers that so many of us view as the scourge of the green rectangles we cultivate in front of our homes.

So I've come up with something of a compromise. I let the yellow flowers bloom, and when they turn white, I pick and toss them if I have time. White seed heads aren't much use to bees anyway, and using so many hours of my life digging weeds isn't a great way to spend energy when I could be planting more flowers.

I've come to a place where I can live with imperfection in my yard, especially if it means more food for our bumbling friends. So rather than digging up all those dandies, I keep them down to a dull roar by pulling them when I can. Sometimes after a good rain I am lucky and get them out right to the end of their roots, but most times, they have a chance to bloom again later in the season. More bee food.

And it's okay, because perfect green rectangles are highly overrated, and our pollinators can't be! Our planet's food chain would be much more secure if we could garden like God does, playing no favourites -- and just learn to like dandelions, or at least put up with a few here and there!

P.S. Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Click here.

Simple Suggestion #204... Be nice to bees

It's a late spring, and our bees are awake and hungry -- I've seen a few buzzing around my yard looking for sustenance. Fortunately, my first dandelions are blooming, with many more to come because I refuse to use chemicals in my yard, preferring to dig them out. And this year, my concern for my little bumbling buddies is reaching an anxiety level such that I'm not going to dig for a while, though I will pull off the seed heads. Dandelions are an excellent source of food for bees, at least until other things start to bloom.

It's been another hard winter for apiary colonies, and between colony collapse disorder, parasites, and pesticide use, bees could use a break and a little help from us to leave their food sources alone, and to plant more to help them out.

So today's challenge is to think about our little yellow and black pollinators and hold off on our need for a weedless yard, avoiding pesticides at all cost, and even leaving those dandies for a bit... at least until our fruit bearing trees are in bloom -- and other things that can support our bees.

Look at how much they do for us -- and don't forget to thank a honey bee today!

Not sure where this graphic originates, but what would we do without bees??

P.S. Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Click here.

Simple Suggestion #122... Learn to like dandelions

My neighbour, Olga, and I were complaining to each other yesterday... in a good natured way. You see, we live facing onto a lovely area park that is full of dandelions. Since the City decided to stop using herbicides in its parks, you could say that dandelions have pretty much taken over the park... and of course, with the prevailing westerly winds, their seeds are also taking over our yards.

So Olga and I find ourselves out in our yards together, digging up the dandelions, and wishing we knew about making good dandelion wine. We shrug our shoulders and say, what can you do? while knowing that we're really very fortunate to live across the street from such a lovely green space when so many on our planet live in cities so crowded it's hard to find nature at all.

I remember too well the days of weed bars and Killex... and I'm so glad that our society is wising up when it comes to using poisonous chemicals to "improve" our environment by eradicating pesky weeds. But at the same time, there are lots of things I'd rather be doing than digging up those tenacious dandelions and tossing them in the trash. They're almost impossible to compost unless you have a really hot compost pile that kills even dandelion roots, leaves and seeds... as well as beneficial composting bacteria.

So here's an idea from Ron Berezan, the Urban Farmer who used to live in my city. He suggests that rather than tossing those dandys into the garbage for the City to deal with, put them in a container full of water. Leave them in there until they drown (read, turn mushy and soft and sink to the bottom) and drain the liquid, which by then is an excellent compost tea. The mushy stuff can then be composted. Keep in mind that it's important to keep a lid on things -- to keep mosquito populations down and to contain the "fragrance" of the process.

Of course, if you don't like digging, and this method of composting dandelions seems too onerous to you, perhaps the best thing is to learn to like dandelions! Or dandelion salad...

P.S. Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Look here.