Gardening expert Adam Kirtland shared the correct way to remove unwanted dandelions from your lawn and stop them from growing back bigger than before
Gardening expert Adam Kirtland shared the correct way to remove unwanted dandelions from your lawn and stop them from growing back bigger than before(Image: Eerik via Getty Images)
Garden weeds can become the nemesis of any keen gardener’s existence, yet many may be undermining their own efforts by tackling them incorrectly, reports the Express.
Gardening expert Adam Kirtland, known as View From The Potting Bench on TikTok, has revealed the proper method for eliminating troublesome dandelions from your grass and preventing their return in greater numbers. Thankfully, no chemical weed killer is required for those seeking to steer clear of synthetic treatments.
Adam explained: “There’s actually a right and a wrong way to weed your garden. And if you’re doing it wrong, you’re actually making the weeds stronger.”
Use a hand fork to slowly and carefully remove the dandelion and its root system(Image: Getty)How to get rid of dandelions
Regardless of how small or large the weed appears, each one requires delicate handling. The gardening specialist mentioned that his lawn is currently blanketed with dandelions.
He noted: “And while the flowers are great for bees and pollinators, I don’t necessarily want a lawn full of them.”
Adam advised fellow green-fingered enthusiasts against mowing over dandelions, which simply removes the flower heads, as this approach proves counterproductive. The optimal method involves gently coaxing them out with a hand fork, ensuring the entire plant including its root system is extracted.
He added: “When weeding, most people just rip the top off a weed not realising that what they leave behind could be catastrophic.”
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The specialist compared weeding to pruning, saying: “If you go around and chop the tops off, all that does is send signals down to the plant to produce more and more and fight it off.
“And while there really is nothing wrong with dandelions, nobody wants a whole garden completely full of them.”
Should you discover that dandelions are sprouting through gaps and fissures in your patio, you’ll still need to try removing the entire root system of the weed. Adam advised gardeners to be “extra gentle” when undertaking this procedure.
He recommended applying gentle pressure to the weeds to gauge the correct amount of force, then pulling steadily until the entire plant emerges. For additional assistance, consider dousing the patio weeds with boiling water before removal.
Specialists at The Spruce noted: “Reapply after seven to ten days to increase the likelihood of killing the deep taproot. Keep in mind that any other plantings exposed to the water will also be damaged or killed.”
Scalding water can assist in eliminating dandelions and weeds by delivering a thermal shock, ultimately destroying the plant’s cellular structure and consequently killing them. Carrie Spoonemore, co-creator of Park Seed’s From Seed to Spoon app, informed Southern Living: “It is particularly effective on young, annual weeds and weeds growing in cracks or small areas.”
Whilst this approach may represent a gentler method for destroying dandelions, it might not prove consistently dependable and lacks long-term effectiveness. Robert Silver, horticultural specialist and CEO of Pro Gardening, explained to Real Homes that this occurs because the scalding water fails to penetrate sufficiently to reach the plant’s root system.
He explained: “The main reason boiling water fails as a weed killer is that it cannot get to the entire root system of most weeds.”
Therefore, to guarantee that dandelions don’t return, concentrate on extracting the complete root system to stop them regenerating repeatedly.
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