I used to breed budgerigars lovebirds and cockatiels, and I fed them the seed heads of dandelions - they are a good source of something as my birds bred superbly well.

Unfortunately my picking of seed heads resulted in the extinction of my dandelions, and only today, after many years, is there a dandelion in the garden. It is not the same as the ones I had, the flower is all one colour and the ones which grew naturally had a slightly paler yellow outer ring - and it is a more rambunctious strapping kind, mine were more delicately formed.

If you want to get rid of them with no struggle, just pick all the flowers.

I never use weedkiller or pesticides, nor fertiliser, I just compost and cut down, and compost again. These days as the weather is less varied I need to water more some years, and lift all the pots out of the mud in others. I mean less varied in the sense of getting a mixture of sun and showers throughout the year. Some years there is drought and some years there are floods, and some years there are both. I have one of those porous hoses and an elevated deck and I am thankful that I chose a house on a ridge and not on a floodplain.