Garden Label Questions

[ajax]

Originally Posted by Ard

I have been thinking of trying China Markers this season, a.k.a Wax Pencils.
Has anyone tried tihis?

I believe Wax Pencils are what I call Grease Pencils, they are for China marking. They are the only markers I use now. I used to use Sharpies, but even they fade in the sunlight. Grease (or China or Wax) do not. I

[Plant Lady]

Originally Posted by veggiecanner

I use recycled canning jar lids tied to the trellis with name and other information for each plant.

I like this idea, since I have a bag full of old canning flats that I knew would be useful for something.

There have been a lot of very good ideas, the paint sticks is an excellent idea also...Hubby works at a place that makes cedar mail boxes and other things, So I could just use some of the small cedar slats..hmmm will have to give some of these ideas some thought. Very good ideas though!!!!

[bizzarbazzar]

This past year I used the blinds with marker and pencil. The marker faded but the pencil stayed OK. But many of my blinds were stepped on, broken, stolen from a strange playful cat etc. So this year I bought these plastic plant tags that you wrap around a stem and or branches. The fit really loose but stays in it without a problem. I will also be using the printable blank garden map (thanks Mishka) and of course backing up my data to disc (thanks for the reminder DCARCH) .




Tom waxing his tomatoes

[grunt]

I use labels cut out of offset printing sheets. They used to be available from local newspapers for cheap, but I don't know if they are even used anymore (I'm still working on hoarded stock). I use an engraving gun to put the name on, and a ticket punch to make a hole. Light wire to hang the tag above the plant (I managed to acquire some multi wired phone cable, and strip them out). I do a garden layout map every year, printed out, saved to disk, and usually misplaced several times a year, and have a notebook in my shirt pocket all summer, to keep track of everything that I notice in the garden. Everything from the tomato patch gets weighed (or eaten on the spot). Last years plunder (that made it to the scales) totaled 4181 lbs 3 oz. I've still got indigestion (not). The engraving gun will also work on plastic (ice cream pail lids, etc.) but requires you smear something on the print to make it easily readable (dirty fingers are great for this). Cheers Grunt

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Earl

For tomatoes I use orange surveyors tape. I give every plant a number and write # and name on tape with marker and tie it to the cages. Numbers makes it easy to write # on top of tomato for identity.

Great idea Earl. I started doing this with both bright pink and orange surveyors tape and tying it to my trellis at eye level. This is great with over 100 tomato plants and over 50 pepper plants. Don't know how well it will hold up but I like it so far. I love not having to bend over trying to see the labels attached to the base of the plant.
I go ahead and write the name and plant out date on the tape since it is so cheap. I found the tape at Harbor Freight for $2 per 200 ft roll and they had about 4 different colors.