Dandy dandelions got you down?

Has the scourge of the summer got a strangle hold on your lawn? Ah, the humble and tough dandelion. It seems to grow anywhere and pop up over night. No matter what you do they always seem to pop up, at least in my yard they do. My daughter loves them and just can't understand why I grit my teeth every time she blows the seeds into the wind.

Of course I just love the huge dandelion bouquets that she picks for me. I even put them into water but be careful what you do with those flowers even after they're picked! A dandelion flower can go to seed even after it's been picked so be sure to dispose of them properly where they can't get back into your beloved yard.

I have found a couple of remedies for the dandelion problem and one of them is shown in the picture. It's the Fiskars UpRoot Weed and Root remover. It's a wonderful contraption and I got mine a few years back. You target the dandelion you want to remove and then plunk the weed & root remover right on top of it. You push the thing into the ground with your foot, much like using a shovel. You pull the handle back towards you and the four metal grips grab the root and pulls the whole thing up out of the ground. When you've pulled out your weed (with a huge grin on your face) you grab the orange grip in the middle of the handle and pop out the weed. Although it works brilliantly in most cases there are a few drawbacks.

It doesn't work well in hard compacted soil. If you can't get it into the ground then you can't pull out the weed. If your yard is full of rocks you may also have some problems. The metal prongs grab rocks as well as it grabs weeds. The handle is also a bit short, at least in my opinion. I'm 5 foot 8 (173 cm) and I feel like I need to bend over to use it. That being said, the first week I had it I pulled out wheel barrows full of weeds and did the weeding happily. The weed remover leaves a very small hole behind where the weed used to be. I just fill those in with a little dirt if needed.

If you want a chemical free weed remover the Fiskars weed & root remover is a good option. Since the handle is a bit short you could always put your kids to work right?