Worth knowing:
Every child knows the up to 30 cm big plant and its characteristic, lion’s teeth-like leaves. In spring it produces shiny yellow flowers that give quite a dash of colour to your garden, and later it develops numerous parachute-like fruits and becomes a blowball. Dandelion can be found widely spread, but shouldn’t just be harvested anywhere because of the environmental pollutions. Especially with the Dandelion, growing the plant at home is recommended.
Natural Location:
The Dandelion originally comes from West Asia. On the southern hemisphere it can only sparsely be found.
Cultivation:
Seed propagation indoors is possible throughout the year. However, a pre-cultivation in February and planting out later on, would be ideal. Seeding outdoors from March onwards, or in late summer is possible as well. Spread the fine seeds onto moist potting compost and put just a little compost earth on top. Cover the seed container with clear film to prevent the earth from drying out, but don’t forget to make some holes in the clear film and take it every second or third day completely off for about 2 hours. That way you avoid mold formation on your potting compost. Place the seed container somewhere bright and warm with a temperature between 20°C and 25°Celsius and keep the earth moist, but not wet. It will take three to five weeks until germination, and in June you can plant the small seedlings out.
Place:
Dandelion grows nicely in sunny places with nutritious, aerated and humous soil.
Care:
For tub cultivation, you should pick a rather tall pot since the Dandelion develops strong tap roots. Common potting earth will be sufficient. Fertilizing is only necessary in tub plants, preferably with fertilizer for herbaceous plants. Dandelion can cope with waterlogging rather than with drying out.
During the winter:
Dandelion is frost-hard and doesn’t need special care during winter.
Picture credits:
- © © Emoke Dénes - CC-BY-SA-2.5 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Emoke Dénes - CC-BY-SA-2.5 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5
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