Dandelions?

I usually give my boys a handful of sliced, bagged, curly kale from Tesco’s at dinner time, and buy a bag every few days. I’m trying to cut down my supermarket visits, and I learned through a gross, slimy accident that the kale does not freeze!

So we’re all out of greens, and there’s a verge on the next street over that’s covered in dandelions. Would these be safe to introduce slowly, once they’re picked and washed? Can they be kept in the fridge for a day or 2 to keep fresh? Can they be frozen, maybe?

I guess they can be hung up to dry, but if I collected some seed heads, are they easy enough to grow in trays?

Yes, but with everything else, diversity is best. Dandelions are great, but if you can get those you sure can get grass too - which would be a good staple food. Other weeds are great too, narrowleaf plantain is a very safe plant to introduce, yarrow... heck, almost everything growing wild is good. Intruduce everything slowly.

Don't think freezing works. Dried they are a great treat.

But, with foraging there's one problem: If there are wild rabbits in your area there is the risk of disease, like Myxo or RHD.

All parts of a dandelion are safe for rabbits. It will keep in the fridge - store as you would other salad leaves. It will not freeze successfully - you will get more slime. The best thing is to pick a few leaves at a time from each plant, so they continue to grow Introduce it slowly to your rabbits and don't panic if they suddenly get dark orange urine - it is a normal side effect as the dandelion pigments pass through.

I agree with Preitler

Drying would be fine, but freezing would result in a further slimy mess I think. From the rate that they spread in my garden, I would imagine that they would grow very well if you plant out the seeds.

I would think that 2 leaves per bunny per day would be ok. This may seem mean? but I seem to remember Dandys are a diuretic so we have to feed sparingly. Kale is high in Calcium and maybe your buns will be better off with not having it daily. As above you can't really go wrong with grass, it's growing quite fast outside here.

My old girls only get 1 dandelion leaf per day, and sometimes a flower, if they are available.
Beware of fakes, there are lots of danelion type weeds, like cat's ear.

I found a website that delivers herbs,including Kale, but the delivery cost is £7 so you have to order a lot to make it worth while. It's called Herbs Unlimited. I bought 1kg of Dill, Parsley and Mint, big mistake! Far too much.