A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Dandelions

not sure where to post this one so i just came to flowers! LOL so i live in NE PA and dandelions are a problem. the things grow wild everywhere! i have them growing out of the cracks of my driveway! question is my mom WANTS to grow them in south florida. she actually BUYS dandelion greens for salad and for her bunnies from the health food store! so last spring when all of ours went to seed i plucked a whole baby food jar and sent the seed so her. she said she's gone through the whole jar and has 1 scragly plant that doesn't look so good. what gives? the things are weeds up here and we can't get rid of them and she actually WANTS them to grow there and can't get them too. do they need a winter? she tried potting soil- planting the seeds and then just throwing them on top- like how they naturally spread. nothing. i've seen dandelion leaves a foot tall! i just don't get how they can grow so easily here and not down there. any advise?

they don't necessarily do so well in higher temps. and they need well drained soil.

what zone is she in?

if she really wants to grow them, she should do new plants when the temps are going to be a bit lower - during the winter months if she's in s. florida - so that they have time to get well established before the higher temps set in.

she should also start them inside and not transplant to outside until the tap root is pretty well established. i don't know how long that takes - she could just gently move the soil in the pot to take a look at the root to see how big it is.

once a good-sized taproot is established and she's transplanted them outside and they get established there, she should have a good (and continuing supply). they should be fertilized every few weeks.

dandelions are a vegetable and they are chock full of vitamins A, C and niacin.