Chuckling at My End of the Pond

My Dad subscribed to the “screwdriver method”
of removing dandelions. As a retiree caring for
his Kentucky blue grass lawn in Colorado, he
would grab a long screwdriver, sit in the yard

and patiently and painstakingly push that
screwdriver parallel to the stem and get
to the root which he then carefully removed
from the grass. Frankly, I think this is a

method for retirees. Reading up on the
various methods to remove them without
the use of pesticides was quite intriguing.
There are even tools similar to my Dad’s

long screwdriver. These are but some of
the methods I learned about: mow often;
root them out(my Dad’s method); poach them
using boiling water; mulch them; pickle them;

apply corn gluten meal; BBQ them and improve
your soil. I do not have a green thumb and any
labor-intensive method to remove dandelions
is of no interest to me. Other retirees resort

to odd methods such as attaching something
to a riding mower and pulling it around where the
weeds are. Not very efficient. Personally, I
like the method children employ: pick bouquets.

In the supermarket, organic dandelion greens are
available and quite tasty and nutritious. Dandelion
wine? No thanks. Do you have a preferred
method without using pesticides?

I think I’ll just sit on the front porch with a
good book and chuckle at my end of the pond.
Life is too short to spend time trying to
rid our lawn of dandelions.