I didn't realise the birds like to come in and eat the seeds that might be what happened to the ones I tried to plant! They struggle to grow here a but more than they do in England. I actually have to try to encourage them!
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I didn't know either until I witnessed it the other day from my dining table! They just swoop in, peck peck peck peck peck and swoop out! Do they struggle because there's not enough water? I'm pretty sure that's the only time I've seen a dandelion struggle.. but usually it still doesn't kill them :P
I suspect it is because of less water. But even by the creeks there aren't many, although the ones there get nice and big. We can go for months without rain too though, so that really can kill any away from a water source. May as well put them in a dehydrator! If the birds enjoy the seeds too then that will probably impact the spread of them. Summer is a hard time for any living thing here. I suspect that's why we get so many visitors to our garden. We're the only ones with edibles growing!
Wow that's so cool that your garden attracts people.. like pollinators hopefully they spread the idea and seed of gardening into their lives and others. So great that you can do that in your community :) I wonder if dandelions are scarce from the aridity what edible weeds are thriving in that environment?
The only people it tends to attract are those already gardening. Sorry, I realise what I wrote was ambiguous. Our main visitors are birds! Although we do have occasional people visitors.
In summer our main edible weeds are purslane now that the birds have shared some seeds with us. Winter brings more variety with Australian mallow, nettles, wild lettuce and chickweed being my favorites. We get sow and milk thistle (Australian version again), but they're more medicinal in use or great fodder. We get a LOT of soursobs in winter too.
LOL! OK I understand what you meant now, thanks for clarifying :) I am into all the weeds you mentioned, except I have never heard of soursobs... I looked it up and realized I had heard it called sour grass before. I have only tasted it once and it's so fun! Kinda like sorrel. Last year I was weeding chickweed for someone and there was a whole bed's worth. Unfortunately it choked out a lot of the garlic crop, but fortunately for me I dried it all and drank it as infusions all winter long... I just drank the last bit of that dried chickweed yesterday :)