{"id":2343,"date":"2013-05-29T01:23:04","date_gmt":"2013-05-29T05:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=2343"},"modified":"2013-06-05T17:50:26","modified_gmt":"2013-06-05T21:50:26","slug":"ask-tom-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/ask-tom-7\/","title":{"rendered":"ASK TOM"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawn Care 2: Dandelions’ Revenge
\nBy Tom Mrakas
\n<\/strong>
\nDue likely to last week\u2019s column, I received a follow up email (or two!) with more lawn care questions.
\nThe most common question I received? Tips to get rid of those pesky dandelions that emerge out of nowhere and take over your lawn in a matter of days!
\nAs I said last week, I am not an expert in lawn care, so it really isn\u2019t my strong suit. But I do want to answer my readers\u2019 questions so I did a bit of research myself, getting advice from my go-to landscaper.
\nAs most probably know, there is a ban on pesticide use in Aurora in residential settings. (Personally, I think that banning the wanton use of pesticides was a good decision. Does it make the removal of weeds more difficult? Yes, it does, but just because something is easier doesn\u2019t make it better!)
\nWith the pesticide ban in place for a few years now, weeds \u2013 and dandelions in particular \u2013 have become a bit of a problem. I hate to say it, folks, but there really isn\u2019t an easy or labour-free way to remove them, in my experience.
\nThe first thing you can do is attack them in much the same way that our grandparents did, and that is to pull each one out.
\nI know what you are thinking \u2013 holy smokes, that\u2019s a lot of work. But, it really is the only sure-fire way that I know of to begin to get rid of them. Notice how I say \u201cbegin\u201d, because pulling them out is not too effective if you don\u2019t get the whole root out.
\nIf you don\u2019t, it will just grow back \u2013 and will bring a few friends too.
\nThere are quite a few tools out there on the market that allow you to stand (as opposed to hunched over, or on your knees all day) while removing them but \u2013 I am not going to sugar coat it. It is still a lot of work.
\nAnother trick you can try to keep the weed growth at bay is spraying the weeds with vinegar. This is an old fashioned and fairly effective tool to keep weed growth under control. However, it is a bit problematic as you have to be careful as vinegar will also kill the grass.
\nFor dandelions on hard surfaces like cracks in concrete or asphalt, you can also use a torch or pour boiling water on them (but this is also a bit dangerous to do too).
\nI would stick to pulling them out by hand and then following up with vinegar to kill the remnants.
\nOne of the best defenses against dandelions is to keep your lawn healthy.
\nThrow some more grass seed in any sparse areas. Avoid cutting your lawn too short. Aim for a height of about 2-3 inches. This will help to block out the sun and prevent some weed seeds from germinating. Finally, use a mulching mower rather than a bag mower and leave the grass clippings on your lawn to act as mulch.
\nThese simple tips should help you to reduce or eliminate dandelions from your lawn in a gentler, natural way than using toxic chemicals or weed killers.
\nIt may not be as fast, but it will definitely be the better way.<\/p>\n

Until next week, remember a good job, is a job well done! If you have any questions you can reach me at www.facebook.com\/anastasisdesign or on twitter, @ADesign_build and email of course Anastasis@anastasisdesign.ca.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawn Care 2: Dandelions’ Revenge By Tom Mrakas Due likely to last week\u2019s column, I received a follow up email (or two!) with more lawn care questions. The most common question I received? Tips to get rid of those pesky dandelions that emerge out of nowhere and take over your lawn in a matter of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-BN","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 14:58:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}