Plant of the Weekish - Dandelion

Dandelion

If Thunder Bay had an official flower, I would have to vote for the dandelion!

The first welcome colours of spring are dominated for a few weeks by a golden carpet of these yellow flowers that seemingly grow in successful defiance of every dedicated gardener and lawn tenderer in town.

Officially classified as a weed, permaculturists classify the dandelion as a valuable pioneer species that works hard within the landscape to amend various soil deficiencies, and make way for a more sophisticated and stable ecosystem.

Dandelions have a deep penetrating tap root that brings nutrients to the surface. When the plant dies back, these nutrients are released to other soil life.

The presence of this plant indicate specific soil conditions such as:

• Low PH
• Low Calcium
• High Potassium
• High Chlorine
• Compacted Soil

Coincidentally (not), the penetrating tap root of this plant acts to mechanically loosen the soil, and bring Calcium (which is an alkalising agent) to the surface.

Not only are dandelions important functionally in the landscape but they are an essential early food source for hungry bees as they come out of the long Northern winter.

Dandelions are also entirely edible, and have medicinal applications which are commercially valuable. For example, the U.S.A is known to import 45 tonnes of dandelion in a year for use in medication alone. People even grow it and sell it for its culinary / medicinal purposes, such as Michael Pilarski here in this video:

According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, a hectare of dandelions yields at least 100 Kg of roots and 18,000 Kg of leaves. At $26.50 per Kg for roots, and $3.25 per Kg for fresh leaves, there seems to be a potential business opportunity just waiting for an enterprising soul. There is also a ready market for flower infused oils...

So the next time you look at the dandelion, remember what it’s telling you about your lawn. Let the bees feed off of it while it’s in flower, and then eat it yourself!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/dandelion-greens-with-a-kick/