Weekly Green Tips #39 - Home-made plant labels

Week 39 - Home-made plant labels

In the midst of winter gardening can be the last thought on many people's minds - the soil is either frozen or waterlogged and you may well be much happier hiding inside buying seeds.  If you are me that will be lots of seeds which means I will need lots of plant labels when I start sowing them.  It is all too easy to pop out and buy a pack of plastic labels when in fact there are plenty of other things you can write on to create a label.  Here are 7 of my favourites:

7 upcycled plant labels

1.  Twigs

Use a potato peeler to remove a section of bark from a thin twig and then write in pencil or pen on the shaved part.

2.  Corks

Save your corks, push them into a thin stick and write on them in permanent marker.  You could even stick them into the end of old forks.

3.  Ice lolly (popsicle) sticks

Save all those ice lolly sticks and use them with either permanent marker or pencil.  You could also paint them with blackboard paint and write with chalk.

4.  Wooden clothes peg

So simple - just clip it on the side of the pot/tray

5.  Flat pebble or stone

Next time you are at the beach collect some flat surfaced stones and paint plant names on them.  You can also add painted pictures if you are arty enough!

6. Old plastic cutlery

Don't chuck them - use them as labels so at least they are no longer single use plastic.  (As an extra you can also stick forks in the ground prongs side up to deter cats using your seed bed as a toilet!)

7.  Slate

The wind blew some slates off our roof recently which broke into pieces.  They won't be wasted though as they are ideal now as plant labels.

Finally, if you have bought plastic labels remember that you can use them lots of times until they finally break.  Always write in pencil which can be rubbed off.  And whilst one side of the label is easier to write on than the other you can still use them on both sides - just remember to cross off the name from the other side so you know if you've sown carrots or lettuces!

Have you seen all the other posts in #WeeklyGreenTips?  Click on "Weekly Green Tips" in the labels section in the right hand column for loads more green inspiration.

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