Keep A Pet Dandelion - National Children's Gardening Week

Keeping a pet dandelion is a great way to show children the cycle from growing flowers all the way to turning into seeds. This is also a great way to teach them about taking care of a potted plant of their own. Here is our guide:

1. Place some crocks in the bottom of a plant pot
2. Fill about half of the plant pot with compost
3. Dig up a young dandelion from the garden, whilst trying to keep as much of the taproot intact as possible (don’t worry, the trauma of being dug up will actually stress the plant and cause it to produce more flowers, rather than killing it)
4. Plant it in the pot, top up the soil and water it well
5. Place the dandelion on a windowsill and check back daily to watch the cycle from flowers to seed head

Did You Know? A lot of people class dandelions as a weed, but they're actually really important as a food source for insects, especially bees. Why not see how many different insects land on your dandelion?

Please note: Eventually, the dandelion is likely to die in the pot.

Top tip! This project is best in spring or early summer.