Dandelionis a plant considered by many to be a weed. Meanwhile, it has many useful properties that we can use at home and in the garden. For years, dandelion has been widely used in medicine and herbal medicine, and gardeners use it to prepare preparations that help protect plants against pests. Learn the secret of how to use this wonderful plant, which only seems to be a weed!
Dandelion - Taraxacum officinale
Dandelion - description
Dandelion(Taraxacum officinale) is a species belonging to the Asteraceae family, similarly to the asters - marcinas, valued in flower beds. The dandelion is a very popular plant in Central Europe, it creates numerous subspecies. Very common in grass communities from the lowlands to the alpine floor. In Poland, it is common throughout the country, and in gardens it appears on almost every lawn.
Dandelionhas a rosette of leaves spread out next to the ground. It produces a long, hollow stem with a single flower basket on top. When we break the stalk, it starts to ooze a white liquid resembling milk, i.e. milk juice. It can irritate the skin, so it is better to wear gloves when plucking the dandelion.
Dandelion - Taraxacum officinale
The inflorescence is composed of numerous yellow ligulate flowers.One of the characteristic elements ofdandelionis its infructescence, commonly known as a dandelion. The infructescence disintegrates under the influence of the blast, into individual fruits - achenes.
Dandelionalso produces a characteristic root. This species forms a classic model of a pile root system. This is one of the reasons why it is so difficult to uproot the dandelion. If we leave at least a centimeter of a root in the ground, a new plant will grow from it next year.
In a moment, however, I will try to convince you thatmaybe it is not worth tearing the nuns so persistently , because they have many valuable properties and can be usefulgarden!
Dandelion inflorescences and inflorescences
Dandelion - honey yield
Dandelion is a valuable honey plantthat effectively attracts bees to the garden. The yellow dandelion flowers that appear from April to May are a valuable resource for bees at a time when other honey plants are just getting ready to bloom.In favorable weather conditions, nuns bloom for the second time in August and September.
Dandelion honey yieldis about 20 kg from one hectare of compact honey. But that's not all, because the pollen yield is impressive, amounting to as much as 260 kg of pollen per hectare!
Dandelion flowers are a valuable resource for bees
For this reasonplease - do not destroy the early flowering dandelionsin your garden. Try to avoid their flowers when mowing your lawn for the first time. Thanks to this, your garden will have a lot of pollinating insects from early spring, which will then pollinate flowers on fruit trees and shrubs.
Good to knowYellow dandelion flowers are also a decoy for ladybugs. Ladybugs are valuable beneficial insects that feed on harmful aphids, thus helping us to reduce the number of these pests.When the dandelions have bloomed, hang yellow ribbons in your garden, which are also an effective bait for ladybugs.
Dandelion - properties, use in medicine
"The use of the dandelionin the old days was very wide, hence its second part of the medical name. Currently, the use of dandelion has significantly decreased in popularity. However, it is still worth learning about some of the more importantproperties of the dandelion
Of all the parts of the dandelionits flowers, leaves and root are the most usedwhich should be collected in the fall. "
Dandelion is a valuable herbal raw material
Dandelion is primarily a diuretic.That is why it is used in the fight against lowering blood pressure by reducing the amount of fluid in the body. It is worth mentioning that dandelion diuretics, unlike other diuretics, do not rinse out potassium from the blood, they even enrich it with potassium.It also stimulates the work of the kidneys, forcing them to excrete toxins through the increased action.Dandelion root is extremely effective in cleansing the liver and gall bladderIt also speeds up the metabolism. The leaves also support the work of the gallbladder. It is even believed that frequent intake of dandelion leaves promotes the dissolution of stones in the gallbladder.
Collected dandelion herb - flowers, leaves and roots
Dandelion - application in plant protection
In addition, it is worth adding that the dandelion is not only an ally for humans in the medical dimension, but also in terms of plant protection.The use of dandelion in plant protectionis primarily disease and pest control, as well as stimulating and accelerating plant growth. The dandelion-based preparation can be prepared from a dried or fresh plant.
Dandelion extractis extremely effective in the fight against aphids, spider mites and honey mites. How to make it?
Here isrecipe for dandelion extract : 150 g of fresh dandelion (whole plant) pour 5 liters of water and leave for 3 hours. You can also use 125 g of ground roots or 200 g of fresh leaves. After 3 hours, we can spray the pests with the resulting solution.
Dandelion - infructescence, colloquially known as a dandelion
Dandelion extractcan also be used to accelerate plant growth or decompose organic matter in compost.For this purpose, we need approx. 200 g of dried dandelion and approx. 2 kg of fresh dandelion flowering with the root. We mix it all and pour about 10 liters of water. We leave it for 24 hours and then we can spray the plants in the summer or water the plants and pour over the compost in the fall.In this way, with the help of the dandelion, we can also get rid of the caterpillars of the cabbage butterflies.
If we want to preparedandelion slurryto accelerate the growth and ripening of fruit, we have to take: 0.5 kg of whole dandelion plants (flowers, leaves, stems, roots) pour 5 liters of water and set aside for 7 days for the mixture to ferment.
Dandelion - recipes
This may surprise some, but thisapplication of the dandeliondoes not end there. For man has also created numerousdandelion recipesculinary and medicinal.
A good example isdandelion flower syrup recipeYou should collect about 1 liter of dandelion flowers, pour them with 1 liter of water and cook over low heat for about 15 minutes. After this time, put the pot off the fire and leave it for 24 hours. Then strain the stock and add the juice of 2 lemons and 1 kg of sugar to it.Put everything back on a small fire and cook for about 2 hours, until the consistency resembles honey.Dandelion syrupcan be used to irritate the upper respiratory tract or soothe a cough.
Dandelion seeds are food for birds, e.g. bullfinches
Dandelion recipesthere are many more recipes, you can make wine, infusion, tinctures, leaf salad and even soup. On our forum, a recipe for the perfect dandelion flower honey is given. I encourage you to look for and use nun recipes. Thanks to this, weeds removed from the garden will not be wasted, and we may even like them!
Dandelion and dandelion - what's the difference
Before we use dandelion herb from our own harvest, it is worth making sure that we are dealing with the right plant. Well,dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is commonly confused with field milk (Sonchus arvensis) A mistake can be unpleasant because dandelion is a valuable herbal material, and milk is poisonous.
Dandelion and dandelion - differences
One of the at-a-glance differencesdifferences between a dandelion and a dandelionis a leaf rosette, which is formed in a dandelion close to the ground, while in dandelions the leaves grow on different stem heights. It is also worth paying attention to the inflorescence shoot, which in a dandelion is always single (one flower on one stem), while in dandelions it can fork, producing several flowers from one stem.
More proven recipes!
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