Newbie here - dandelions and lawn

[loveyouradvice]

Hi ... we've just moved from a place with a tiny patio garden to a biggish garden, with a lawn and fruit trees and flowerbeds.

We're digging up dandelions from the lawn - making sure we get the whole tap root out. But know seeds will blow in from next door

There's a big patch of lawn where there are masses of dandelions - and lots of tiny round balls beside them. Could these be dandelion seeds germinating? If so that is terrifying and we're going to have to comb them up like nits out of a 7 year olds hair!

Any other tips for a dandelion free lawn? Huge thanks

Either embrace the dandelions and decide you love them.

Or pay a lawn company to sort your lawn out.

I spent years slaving over my lawn, wondering why it looked like shit while my neighbours' lawns were green, lovely and moss and weed-free. Then I found out they all paid for lawn companies to come and moss-treat, weedkill, aerate etc throughout the year.

The year I gave up and did the same, suddenly my lawn looked like a marvel and I had so much more time to spend on fun jobs in the garden.

Advice generally is to leave them until after spring - they are good for bees and other things, which are in turn good for the rest of your garden!

But I know they can be annoying to look at. Unfortunately without weedkilling your whole lawn, pulling out the tap root when they appear is about all you can do.

We pay Green Thumb to deal with our lawn, everyone who tries to do it themselves seems to turn their lawn black. We have no weeds at all.

I dig them out, gradually reducing the crop. If love not got time I pick the flowers off.
I know the bees like them, but my gardens full of other flowers, all year round.

Oh gosh - Im keen to do it myself but suspect we may not succeed. Not keen to have a black lawn!

Going to start by doing ourselves and see where we get to.

Vitax do either a trigger spray or aerosol to allow treatment of the weed rather than the whole lawn. I used to use it on golf greens (where the target isn't a good one) to avoid blanket spraying. It dealt with a broad spectrum of weeds very well.

Thanks ones Im going to take a look at that....

I'm looking at my lawn and my dandelions. I have to admire them; they are so persistent, year after year after year.