By Strude
Tyne And Wear,
United Kingdom 
Hi
I've read somewhere that you shouldn't add perennial weeds to compost. I was wondering if it is okay to add dandelions when they are still flowering before they set seed?
5 May, 2014
Answers
We don't get brown bins, have to pay £5 for a couple of green bags then phone the council to get them to take them. I put dandelion leaves in the compost and the flower heads in the bin.
6 May, 2014
Catty if the council are taking them away in the bags it will be going to a re-cycling depot and I think, I know I shall be corrected if I am wrong, they heat up the compost and kill off any seed weeds etc before turning it into compost. If you mean can you put them into your composter for use on your garden I would not put the flower heads in or any part of the dandelion root. I do not have green bins either, but my chickens like dandelions so that is where mine go to. lol.
6 May, 2014
We pick our flowers every morning and put them with the ordinary waste. One day may get around to getting rid of them!
6 May, 2014
Oh dear! Been putting dandelion flowers in my compost bin for years, never occurring to me that they could turn to seed in there. Now they will go in my council bin.
Another great tip from GOY.
6 May, 2014
Dandelions have the ability to go from bud to seed without even opening the flower, I kid you not.
So if you have a council bag/bin, I'd put the whole plant in that, or else leaves in the compost and heads and taproots in the bin!
6 May, 2014
All the flowers that I de-head throughout the growing season, including dandelions, goes into a netting bag such as a carrot sack or a carrier bag with lots of holes in it. I then suspend the bag in a spare water butt, leave it to stew over the winter months and then use this liquid tea to feed my plants the next season.
I have been doing this for years, it solves the problem of getting rid of the dead flower heads and I end up with about 50 gallons of FREE Baby Bio.
6 May, 2014
Good one Myron!
6 May, 2014
Myron, you are a mine of interesting information!
7 May, 2014
Thank you for the very helpful replies, I do have a brown bin for the council gardening waste so I shall start putting them in there but keep the leaves for my own compost as a couple of members suggested.
7 May, 2014
Personally I wouldn't as the flower head can go to seed in the compost, in fact unless your compost gets really hot I wouldn't put dandelions in at all - use the brown bin supplied by the council.
6 May, 2014