I have been growing dandelions in my garden for many years.
Where I live in Northern California they are green all year.
When they are watered and cared for the plants produce big
luscious leaves. I rarely include them in salads. My most common
use is as a cooked green. Yes, the wild dandelion can be a
little bitter. However, when you take care of them in the
garden, and particularly if you grown them in the shade the
leaves will be broader and more tender than their full-sun wild
cousins. You can also further blanch the leaves by covering the
plant with a box for a week or two before harvesting. I don’t
blanch as I like the full flavor of the wild plant. I dug up the
wild plants you see in the bucket here from a waste patch in the
allotment garden where I grow vegetables. Each plant is actually
a cluster of plants growing off the mother plant — the oldest
plant with the big tap root. This cluster of dandelions are
attached near where you see the small roots. The next step is to
separate out the dandelions an