seed markers

This is something I saw on a gardening show awhile back and really like the idea. When you shorten your blinds, cut the extra slats and use them as seed markers. It was enough to make me shorten my blinds after having them up only 2 years! Now another thing I will be garbage picking for.

Smiles,
Gabrielle

Gabriella, what a great idea!
This site has garden tags you can print out~ http://www.gardentrails.com/
Click on products, then click on "garden tags" on the top and select the ones you wish to print.
Maybe someone can come up with an idea on how we can weather-proof them for outside use after adhering them to the extra blind slats or wood, etc.

Melanie

Isn't there a technique you do with wood where you put the paper on with glue, then varnish over several (million) times? I can't remember what it is called.

I just used a sharpie marker though.

Smiles,
Gabrielle

Gabrielle, thanks for sharing a great idea.

i take my old milk gallons-plastic and wash them out and then you can cut them into all different size markers-write on them with a black marker. saves on blinds! ;]
happy holidaze!
dori

I used popsicle sticks this past summer and they rotted off at ground level. I like the milk jug idea. I do not like blinds so I have none to use.

I had the same problem with popsicle sticks. They also darken and get hard to read.

Another thing you can do with milk jugs, or other clear plastic for that matter, is fill them with water and put them around seedlings after they are put out. They gather heat in the day and protect at night. I've heard you get tomatoes a lot earlier that way. I'm going to try it this year.

Smiles,
Gabrielle

You can also cut up yougert/sourcream type containers
Write on inside with sharpie

I save the plastic clippy things that come on loaves of bread, rolls, etc. There are large and small ones and in between ones. You can just sort of snap them onto the edge of the pots you are planting in...great for labeling seedlings.

I checked out the tags at Garden Trails. Those are great. I wonder if you could cut a piece of milk jug the same shape as the tag, and then use a laminating pouch that you find at the office supply store. I don't know how water proof those pouches are. Does anyone know?

Sharon

Gabrielle: I've been doing the venetian blind plant markers for a long time, too. The really great thing about them is that you can make the marker as SHORT or TALL as you want. Just make certain you use a permanent marker! Although I get mine at our rentals when they are too broken for window use, a brand new blind can very often be purchased for around $3 or $4 & you have markers for years!

duckweed

Write on your old blinds in pencil NOT ANY SORT OF PEN, pencil will last for years.

I have been using old blinds - the house we bought had blinds on every window - so have plant markers for the next 100 years!

Ditto here. When we moved into this house in December, we had blinds up in almost every room, and they all came down.

Unfortunately, I tossed most of them before this thread had begun, but kept a couple.

One set of blinds here has provided me with probably 300 plant markers. Writing on it with a sharpee, they are just about the most perfect plant marker you could imagine.

They can be cut to fit nicely in seedling tray cells, or cut longer to be placed out in the garden.

Dave

Be careful with the sharpie marker on the mini blinds. They last a while ... but they'll fade. I learned the hard way on some daylilies that I wanted to keep the names of. After a year I couldn't tell there had been any writing at all. I did a bunch of tags last fall with the mini blinds & a few different type pens to see what would survive the best and not fade. I'm leaning towards a paint marker that's water proof & supposedly fade proof. I'm not sure if I tried the pencil but I did try a china pencil.

Thanks for the tip. I'll get a paint marker next time I'm out and will give that a shot. Let us know what your findings are at the end of the year.

Also, you can use those pencil like crayons. I think they may be called Chinese markers - you pull a string back to tear the paper and reveal more writing tip. I hope I haven't confused anyone too much here. I'd sure be confused if I didn't know what I was talking about!

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I've found that if you turn your plant marker so the writing is up against the pot the weather won't get to the label and fade it. Also, you can cut Styrofoam into strips and use them for markers. If you use an ink pen and press hard enough the plant name will stay indented even if it fades. I've been saving the Styrofoam boxes from take out restaurants for this purpose.

I found this site for permanent garden labels and I thought some others might be interested in it

http://www.everlastlabel.com/

It's the cheapest I've seen them sold. Permanent labels like these are nice when you invest in a lot of expensive hybrids like shrubs, roses, daylilies, and hostas. I know that many new gardeners think the names to plants are pretty trivial ~ but it's important to keep their names ~ especially if you plan to be trading a lot of plants. Many traders won't even consider trading unless you have the names.

For outdoors, forget the Sharpie. The A.M. Leonard catalog has a marker that really DOESN'T FADE!

Two problem with the blind markers: they brittle out in the weather. I solved this problem by sliding the markers almost out of sight. They last a lot longer without the ultraviolet light making them brittle.

I read a year or more ago that they shouldn't be used in the pots of food plants, as there is a small amount of lead in them. If they are very new blinds, I don't think this applies, as I don't think the lead-based blinds are being made any more.

I use the blinds too, they are so easy to cut with regular sissors. You can use bleach bottles if you don't mind cleaning them well. I found a laundry marker at KMart called RubaDub - it won't fade like Sharpies or crayons.

Sometimes you can get the extra pieces that are trimmed off blinds at stores like Blinds Unlimited, or Home Depot for free if you ask (they just throw them away anyway).

I've found that the markings with a permanent black marker last long if you give it a quick spray with a clear acrylic spray (can be found anywhere you purchase spray paints).

We use white plastic forks and spoons to mark seed flats.
I usually write on them with a Sharpie marker and will occasionally insert reminders in the fork tines.
Bud

Don't buy miniblinds for plant markers! You can get them for practically nothing at garage sales! I love to go to garage sales and flea markets - I am always looking for things for the garden and yard -- old planters, old glass cake covers which become cheap cloches, metal frame tables with or without the tops to paint and use for patio tables, or a piece of glass to become an outdoor tabletop. I have a hunter green round piece of 1/2 inch solid cast counter top which I use for an outdoor tabletop. It was the cutout from a lavatory probably - cost? $1.00! A few weeks ago, I found a treated lumber planter on casters which had been used to wheel plants in and out of a garage -- price? $15.00. The casters were worth that much. Old room dividers and louvers can be painted and used on the patio and in the garden for accents. Keep an open mind. Redbug

Casey2, Thanks for the site for tags. I printed some out for myself. I'm going to have DH stop and pick me up some wide scotch tape (the kind for shipping). I plan on putting a strip on front and back, and then cutting out the tag with enough tape left on the edges to seal. I'm hoping this works for weather proofing them. If anyone else has tried this, please let me know if they had success or failure. I'm always one for trying new things.
Heidi

Hey -- why not get aluminum miniblind scraps? They are fairly thick and they would not get brittle in the sun & weather, right? I'm going to ask my friend at Lowe's to save me some; she's in the paint and blind department! Woo-hoo, thanks for the idea!

I used a sharpie on vinyl mini-blinds last year...Same thing, all faded to nothing. AND to top it off, I can't locate my notes that say what I bought, where I planted them, etc. Just sketchy notes here and there - not my good detailed list!!

I trade miniblind markers for plants & seeds, One winter I cut a lifetime supply, when I was trying to quit smoking. I also use the rubadub marker w/ great succes. Reuse, Reduce, Recycle, Keep it out of the landfills.

If you have the time and inclination, I use glitter glue or puffy paint, the kind used for fabric decorating sold at craft stores that you squeeze out of a bottle with a pointy tip. They make beautiful colorful words & decorations and lasts and lasts.

I simply go to the greenhouse nursery and buy all the leftover tags they have and write on the back with the sharpie. I like the one that is double ended. Fat on one end and skinny on the other. If the stuff lives and makes it to the garden, I use the metal plant markers with a paint pen on the front and also mark on the back. If the front does fade in a couple years, it's usually still visable enough on the back to be able to read and then rewrite on the front. When I have stuff that croaks, I use exterior flat white spray paint to spritz over the metal plate so I can reuse it. The paint must be flat or the marker won't stick at all. I've also tried the clear packaging tape and it works fairly well, but writing on the back is what has saved me many times.

I too have used the blind method and Bud's plastic knives and forks idea. But, yes, the writing always disappeared in time. Then I thought of punching out the plant name on that plastic tape that threads through the little machine (its packed right now, so have no idea what its called). I started to do this but then moved house and still have not got round to it. My idea was to punch out the names and then glue them somehow to copper or other material. I have no idea if this would work, and I'm sure it's pretty time consuming if you have a lot of plants, but I will give it a try just as soon as we get this next move out of the way.

Rebecca's Garden has instructions to make really really cute plant markers out of small hanging terra cotta pots or tiles. http://www.rebeccasgarden.com/howto/items/29mark01.html

Gabrielle, that varnishing method is called Decoupage and the China Pencils are sometimes called grease pencils.

pukeGreen
Thanks for the link. I went to the site and then decided I just had to make some this morning. Our local Hobby Lobby has clay pots on sale for 1/2 price and I had bought some of the tiny, tiny ones yesterday to make a windchime. I decided to use them for this instead. Instead of painting them, I used my Dremel and engraved the names on them, used copper wire to hang them, and added a little bell inside the little pot. They made a nice addition to my flower bed.