No Tools, No Chemicals: The Best Way To Remove Dandelions From Your Yard

While some eco-conscious gardeners may embrace the dandelions growing in the garden and understand what it means when you have a yard full of them, you, like many others, may not appreciate them quite as much. Commercial weed killers are available that will eliminate the problem, but they're not the best for the environment — or the rest of your yard, in many cases. Plus, herbicides can be quite expensive, and you have to buy all the safety equipment that goes with using them. This leaves you with the debate of how to manually remove these weeds, and after a quick scroll, you're left deterred and unimpressed by the price and selection of weed-pulling tools on the market. Lucky for you, the best way to remove dandelions from your yard is actually just to pull them up by hand after a nice, soaking rain.

Dandelions are so resilient because they have a long taproot that can go as deep as 18 inches. This can make it difficult to pull them out of the ground. Worse still, if you leave any part of this long root in the soil, it will more often than not regrow a new plant above ground. This is one of the primary reasons you should avoid pulling weeds from dry soil. If the soil is damp, however, wiggling that root out is going to be so much easier.  It's also helpful if you can get the plants while they're still quite young and small because the taproot won't be quite as long.

The best time to get out into the yard to hand-pull dandelions is just after a good dose of rain. However, if your busy schedule doesn't always allow for this, you can just give the ground a good soaking the day before you plan to tackle the weeding. If you have a large area to cover, you might like to make the process more comfortable by getting a kneeling pad or a low stool to sit on. Wearing a pair of gardening gloves will also help you to grip the weeds better.

For best results, lift up the rosette of leaves and grab the dandelion at the very base as close to the root as possible. Pull upwards using a smooth motion that allows the root to come out of the soil. After you do this a few times, you'll be able to feel if the entire root is coming up or if it's going to break. You could even grab a sharp knife from the kitchen or your hand trowel and insert it straight down into the ground directly beside the weed. If you wiggle this around a little while you're pulling on the dandelion with your other hand, you should find that it's fairly easy to pull out the entire root. Finally, after you've pulled them all out, don't forget that this annoying weed makes the perfect fertilizer for your garden.