[Zippy]

My wife and I spent four days eradicating dandelions from our plot and now we have four bin bags full of dandelions and their tap roots.

Surely those tap roots will be rich with minerals mined from the sub soil underneath and could be used in some way to get the goodness back to the soil? How about drowning them in a barrel to make dandelion tea like we make nettle and comfrey teas?

Obviously I can't compost them, but I hate waste.

any ideas?

[Alastair-I]

Don't know about the roots.. but you can tempura the flowers..

If you have space, a little water into each bin bag, tie them off, stack them somewhere out of the way and forget about them until they compost in the bin bags.

[Yorkie]

I think you can make 'tea' out of them like comfrey etc.

It's quite a medicinal plant, if you're minded to investigate that side of it too.

[potatogrower]

best thing to do is crush the root and leave in water, that way all the goodness will leech out for sure.

[aelf]

you can compost them, provided that the compost heap will get hot enough to kill the roots off and break them down. I have a similar problem with comfrey roots (the ones that I don't need for comfrey tea). These I leave out on the shed roof until they are crispy and completely dead, then I compost them.

Leaves and flowers of Dandelion can be used to make salads and/or wine

[totalnovice]

If you leave them submerged in water for three weeks it will drown them and then they are safe to compost - or so i have heard. Never been brave enought to try it myself

[JohnB47]

you can compost them, provided that the compost heap will get hot enough to kill the roots off and break them down. I have a similar problem with comfrey roots (the ones that I don't need for comfrey tea). These I leave out on the shed roof until they are crispy and completely dead, then I compost them.

Leaves and flowers of Dandelion can be used to make salads and/or wine

How come you have a 'problem with comfrey roots'? Surely you only harvest the leaves and stalks? Or has your plant got so big you're now having to control it?

[aelf]

you can compost them, provided that the compost heap will get hot enough to kill the roots off and break them down. I have a similar problem with comfrey roots (the ones that I don't need for comfrey tea). These I leave out on the shed roof until they are crispy and completely dead, then I compost them.

Leaves and flowers of Dandelion can be used to make salads and/or wine

How come you have a 'problem with comfrey roots'? Surely you only harvest the leaves and stalks? Or has your plant got so big you're now having to control it?

My plot was abandoned for about ten years before I took it on and completely invaded by wild comfrey. So I am constantly still (after 7 years) digging out comfrey roots. It's not as bad as it used to be but the darn things do still keep popping up in spots that I thought were now clear. On the plus side, I am never short of comfrey tea 

[Zippy]

Too many dandelions to crush the roots for composting or dry out - three full bin bags!
My approach will be to submerge the whole lot in a blue barrel of water and strain off the tea for nutrient watering. I figure asthe dandelion root can mine minerals from the subsoil, they are too valuable to just throw away and this will be a safe way to use them without getting them back again.

[agapanthus]

you could also use the bigger roots for coffee. dry roast them 1hr 100c chuck in a grinder/blender.hot water sugar and ur off to a flying start