How to Get Rid of Dandelions in Your Yard

Hello, my friend, hello again; today we come together to talk about How to Get Rid of Dandelions in Your Yard and hope the blog can help you.

Dandelions may be a delight for the kids, but they can mar turf and compete with native plants. Our expert weighs in why you might want to get rid of the broadleaf weeds, and how to get the job done without harming your yard.

Though young children might love their fluffy seed heads, most lawn-tending grown-ups dread the sight of dandelions. According to Kim Eierman, an ecological landscape designer in Bronxville, N.Y., dandelions can appear anywhere, and the weeds “especially like sun,” she says. Eierman, who is the author of The Pollinator Victory Garden: Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening, has plenty of ideas for preventing and eliminating dandelions, which she calls “prolific reseeders, even invaders,” and not as helpful to pollinators as many published hacks and memes might suggest.

Dandelions are broadleaf perennial weeds, with a taproot that will regrow if not removed completely. When considering how to kill dandelions, one option is to control the plants’ regrowth by digging deeply enough to pull up those roots (which can grow to 3 feet long). The plants also spread by seed. On a single plant, those puffy heads that appear after the yellow flowers fade can carry 20,000 viable seeds. “Don’t let [a dandelion] go to seed and you’re already ahead of the game,” says Eierman. In general, the best way to kill dandelions is a natural and multipronged approach.