Homemade Garden Markers are an Easy and Cost Effective Choice

With spring approaching it is a good time to talk about one very popular use for the sticks –that of a garden marker. For gardeners, it is always sound policy to somehow mark or label a new planting. Whether we’re considering about rows of newly sown seeds or new spring greenhouse plants –if it is not labeled, chances are really good you will be wondering aloud at some point trying to figure out what you planted.
There is a wide selection of garden row markers available that are at once decorative and functional. They will also put a dent in your pocket book. Some are not all that cheap. Many folks make their own from available materials readily found, that are cheap in comparison.
Identifying rows of radishes or some new heritage tomato plants can be fun using decorative “store-bought” markers and, that’s nice if you have a lot of money and are looking for a place to unload some of it.
I, personally, try to keep things simple –sort of a ‘back-to-basics’ plan or, waste not, want not mentality.
As well, when the plants grow to mature size, the garden markers will be hard to see and not really needed anymore. The markers are only useful in the earlier spring. The basic homemade variety should be re-purposed each spring to document rows of seedlings or new plants.
What to Use
When looking around your home for something good to use, there are a few ideas that some people have found work quite well. If not readily located in your house, some of these items can be purchased for a reasonable price at a local store.
Something to consider are paint stir sticks –my own favorite. Wood paint paddles can be obtained at the big box home improvement stores –but usually only one or two at a time. Paint stores, of course, have them as well and generally will only let them go with a purchase of some paint or supplies.
Other ideas include plastic –like plastic knives, or scrap window blind slats, albeit a little too lightweight. You need something that is sufficiently stiff enough to pierce the ground and big enough to record your information onto.
Wood shims will work, but they are rough hewn and difficult to write on; further, they are not very lengthy.
I return to paint stir sticks. They are usually twelve in. long. The best ones are made of native birch hardwood –which means they won’t deteriorate too quickly. Soft woods, when out in the weather, don’t last nearly as long.
The useful life of the paint stir sticks can be extended by coating them –which may also quench our need for a decorative garden marker for a fraction of the expense.
There are several other types of craft sticks available that would fit the bill but they are smaller and there is not much space to write upon them.
You can attach empty seed packets to the garden row markers or just simply record your notes onto the stick marker with a red felt tip pen –such as a Magic Marker.