How to Grow Gourmet Dandelions

Most people think of dandelions as those annoying weeds that invade our lawns every spring, summer and fall. However, many people eat dandelion greens and flowers. Garden retailers are now selling dandelion seeds to grow for a tasty addition to any salad.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Dandelion seeds
• Compost or other organic material
• All-purpose fertilizer

1. Search home and garden stores, local greenhouses and Internet garden retailers for dandelion seeds. Look in the Italian or gourmet greens section of Internet garden retailer stores. Dandelion seeds sold for red, yellow and Italian dandelions.

2. Make a dandelion garden bed. Tillthe garden soil, build a raised bed or use containers for the dandelions. Add compost or other organic materials to the garden soil to make it rich and loamy. Use an all-purpose garden or vegetable fertilizer for better growth and productivity.

3. Thin the plants as they grow. Keep at least 6 inches between each plant. This checks disease and maximizes leaf production.

4. Harvest the outer leaves as you would harvest lettuce. Use the leaves in a salad. To harvest the whole plant, cut the dandelion greens with a sharp knife, garden shears or scissors.

5. Store gourmet dandelion leaves and flowers in a freezer bag in the refrigerator and serve them within a week for the best taste. Throw out any that wilt. Prepare dandelion roots by drying them in the sun.

6. Let the gourmet dandelion flowers go to seed toward the end of the season. Then harvest the seeds for next year's dandelion garden.

Tips & Warnings

• Grow the dandelions in containers to keep them from spreading to other parts of your garden.
• Use any fertilizer made for growing lettuce or herbs.
• Avoid using dandelion leaves from a plant that has started to bolt, or flower. The leaves of a plant that has bolted can be bitter and unpleasant.