dandelion patch

i did a search but didnt find anything obvious so here is my question. i am looking to make a dandelion patch. i'm simply transplanting my dandelions to an area i want to have an excess of them. I'm assuming this will be a pretty easy process, but i'm considering maintenance. i would imagine the best way to keep it prolific is to treat it like a lawn. after i do a big harvest i could take a mower or weed whacker to inspire new growth and cut down some of the grass. is it as simple as that?

There are millions of lawn owners that try, for years, to get rid of dandelions without any luck.  It is a very determined plant.  It is hard to kill, but I don't know how best to encourage it, as mine have always thrived without any input from me.

I have had good success with transplanting yarrow, spiderwort, and other plants that spring up here and there.  One thing to think about with dandelion is that it has a tap root - try to get as much of that as you can. Or collect some seed, and sow that in small pots.

I get my first greens from sunny places, and just last week from some still sweet plants barely starting to flower and growing in a cool shady place.  I have the pleasure of several patches, some under light shade, some in cold places, some in warm raised beds in the herb gaden.  Young leaves before flowering are most palletable.  Though even young leaves that grow in warm weather can be bitter.  I have thought that cutting them back occasionally is nice for getting those younger leaves, but I'd use a kama or a scythe.

A note... if you edit your title to include "Dandelion"... it helps future users with searches.

ive been watching a lot of "eat the weeds" and i was very excited to run into some chickweed yesterday on my property. I dug up some of it and brought it to my path. So I'll see how that transplants as well, (seemed to be very tiny roots, not sure if i got enough of it.

as for my dandelions i figured since Id read in (maybe pauls paper or on eat the weeds) that dandelions thrive in lawns because of the tap root, then once the grass is mown they easily compete with grass and can send up flowers as soon as the next day. so i figure if the grass starts getting out competetive that i could whack the whole thing and the dandelions would produce less bitter leaves and at best smother out the grass eventually.

i ate the flowers for the first time yesterday and my gosh i was surprised at how good it was. it tastes like candy to me. the same with forsythia flowers though not quite as good. i have yet to taste a dandelion leaf that was too bitter, but i'm figuring its coming.

im a little worried that i might not be positive on the chicory dandelion ID but from my research it doesnt matter as far as safety.

just start from seed its so much easier.

if you know eat the weeds then you know the I.T.E.M.ize he does. a great thing to go by when foraging for wild foods or trying new eatable plants out.

Talking to dear sis, the other day.  She said they had just sprayed their lawn to kill the dandelions.  I said, that's funny. We were just out spreading dandelion seeds we had collected from the neighbors 

i know its so weird how vastly different people could be. my sis she probably would do the same just because thats what everyone else was doing. My bro-in-law would and is trying to stop poisoning his lawn, but i have a feeling this is a 60 40 prop so far. Myself my whole life i never thought about it much, it was my parents lawn anyway. For a while in my place i just wanted some moss to walk on and various ornamental if not useful plants. now want edible and beautiful species everywhere, and to be able to eat it because i know what it is and its not pesticided.

as for the other comment, you are right. prob easier to do by seed, especially the way i do it, nearly plant by plant. i am constantly hamstrung thinking that every being deserves the utmost thought to its worth. Therefore i never try to kill something once i have it in my head that its worth saving. this is most true for useful plants and worms (animals). Even rocks i try to take care of. Its also why i have a hard time being a grade a money maker as a laborer. i can simply not drive a shovel right through any being, except something like grass. At 'real job' i was always forced to go quick, so i often had to improvise. i'd fill my pockets with beautiful rocks and try to give gung-ho trees a second chance by moving them. burying and spitting on worms we left out to dry. so the dandelions i take it that they came here to live. i like them so when i dig one up, rather than compost it and start a new one, id rather let this one live in a new spot, if he is so strong as to do so.

perhaps i could specify that these plants are in the way of a sport of human ordering.