Dandelions are edible!

I was trained as a kid to dislike dandelions, but learned to like them over the years.

Now that a head of iceberg lettuce costs $2.5, I've developed a new found appreciation for the pioneers who brought dandelions with them everywhere they went.

I can extend a salad with the leaves of young dandelions. I usually pick young leaves in fields that are not treated with fertilizer.

Another really odd thing about dandelions. The plants take to hard packed soil. The tap roots tend to aerate the soil. Since the roots run deep, they often pull minerals from deep in the ground. These minerals become available for the other plants in later years.

Agronomists noticed something strange in studying abandoned lots. In the first years of abandonment, the soil is packed and becomes completely covered with dandelions. A few years into the cycle, the soil is loose. It holds more water and is less likely to erode.

The really amazing thing is that the healthy soil is producing fewer dandelions.

Now for the weed that I dread:

Bindweed. Bindweed strangles everything in the garden. The roots have little nodules. The weed will start growing from the nodule when pulled. You might pull one bindweed and get four more in its place.

!WINE