Dandelions
May. 14th, 2021 07:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisnewdayWhen I picked up the grandkids, and we were driving back to my place to do yardwork this afternoon, I told them that today we'd be doing something special.
Mildly interested, they said, "What's that?"
"Picking flowers," I said.
"Really?" Ashley said.
"You're kidding," Jason said.
"Yes to the first one and no to the second one," I said.
Then I reminded them how I'd been debating over a response to the bumper crop of dandelions in both the front and back yards. And about my reservations with respect to herbicides. The studies I'd read many years ago about the correlation between the use of herbicides in residential neighborhoods and the incidence of childhood leukemia.
That because I hadn't settled on a satisfactory strategy, as yet, we were going to pick any dandelions that had gone to seed and bag them for pickup with yard waste before running the mower or trimmer over the lawn.
I reminded them that each flower produces an average of 180 seeds--and each plant an average of 5000--per season.
And so, with those alarming statistics driving us onward, we set about "picking flowers."
And did, I think, a pretty good job.
As we were working, I told the kids that, if anyone asked, we were harvesting dandelion seed heads for a school science project.
If asked what we were supposed to do with them, I'd say that we had to count the seeds on each head.
And if they responded that this seemed like a really STUPID project, I was gonna say, "Yeah, well, teachers these days..."
The kids laughed. (After all, I was paying them to be there, lol.)
In fact, this part of the job didn't take us long, and the kids were soon busy fine-tuning their recently-acquired skills with the electric mower and string trimmer.
I do think that, on my next trip to the Home Depot, I'm gonna pick up a planting shovel, the kind with a long handle and narrow blade, which will allow me to sever the roots and pull up the plants without noticeable damage to the lawn.
I'd consider making dandelion wine or jelly, but only God and Mother Nature know what toxins already saturate the environment where these plants--and us humans--grow...
LPK
Dreamwidth
5.14.2021
Mildly interested, they said, "What's that?"
"Picking flowers," I said.
"Really?" Ashley said.
"You're kidding," Jason said.
"Yes to the first one and no to the second one," I said.
Then I reminded them how I'd been debating over a response to the bumper crop of dandelions in both the front and back yards. And about my reservations with respect to herbicides. The studies I'd read many years ago about the correlation between the use of herbicides in residential neighborhoods and the incidence of childhood leukemia.
That because I hadn't settled on a satisfactory strategy, as yet, we were going to pick any dandelions that had gone to seed and bag them for pickup with yard waste before running the mower or trimmer over the lawn.
I reminded them that each flower produces an average of 180 seeds--and each plant an average of 5000--per season.
And so, with those alarming statistics driving us onward, we set about "picking flowers."
And did, I think, a pretty good job.
As we were working, I told the kids that, if anyone asked, we were harvesting dandelion seed heads for a school science project.
If asked what we were supposed to do with them, I'd say that we had to count the seeds on each head.
And if they responded that this seemed like a really STUPID project, I was gonna say, "Yeah, well, teachers these days..."
The kids laughed. (After all, I was paying them to be there, lol.)
In fact, this part of the job didn't take us long, and the kids were soon busy fine-tuning their recently-acquired skills with the electric mower and string trimmer.
I do think that, on my next trip to the Home Depot, I'm gonna pick up a planting shovel, the kind with a long handle and narrow blade, which will allow me to sever the roots and pull up the plants without noticeable damage to the lawn.
I'd consider making dandelion wine or jelly, but only God and Mother Nature know what toxins already saturate the environment where these plants--and us humans--grow...
LPK
Dreamwidth
5.14.2021
no subject
Date: 2021-05-15 11:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-15 02:29 pm (UTC)On the other hand, I don't think there's much chance of their eradication, in my yard in my lifetime, lol...
no subject
Date: 2021-05-15 02:53 pm (UTC)