marking plastic labels

Davesnave

button_box wrote: »

A friend, who opens her garden to the public, has very stylish plant markers cut out of black meat trays from the supermarket which she writes on with a silver permanent marker. She also cut up some old plastic venetian blinds and painted them matt black, again writing the plant names on with a silver permanent marker. They seem to last okay and look so much better in the garden than my cut up Flora tubs and "Sharpie"

Yes, I used to buy a few over-priced plants from a trendy woman in Oxford, who did all her labels in silver artline pen, and those were virtually bomb-proof. Unfortunately, I can't teach the computer to emulate her wonderful handwriting style.

Painkiller

Has anyone tried using a Dymo label maker to stick embossed labels onto the white plastic labels? Can they cope with moisture & temperature changes?

emiff6

Painkiller wrote: »

Has anyone tried using a Dymo label maker to stick embossed labels onto the white plastic labels? Can they cope with moisture & temperature changes?

Isn't that a lot of bother to go to when a lollipop stick and a pencil work so well???:rotfl:

CharlieBilly

I have used stedllar (german) permanment marker pens they do fade after a few years. For season I mainly use pencil. I reuse the label cleaning with turps on a old cloth

I also made some long labels from plastic trunkin I had spare I got quite a bit from cuutting it down to size with a saw and the using a sharp blade and bend so it snaps off

Painkiller

emiff6 wrote: »

Isn't that a lot of bother to go to when a lollipop stick and a pencil work so well???:rotfl:

Funnily enough it would be more hassle to source lollipop sticks & a pencil. I'm not too sure how the wooden lollipop sticks would hold up in the boggy conditions of the pots my carnivorous plants are in.

A._Badger

I'm just glad to find I'm not the only one so mean that I re-use old plant labels!

Oh, and a Sharpie or the softest pencil I can get, for me.

spider125

I use plastic knives and a fine permanent marker pen, the knives work well for me and throw away when the plants harvested!!!

CharlieBilly

I try to be as green as possible with in limits when it coems to garden

I try and reuse everything like labels, peat, pots whcih have bedding plants in

I make my own compost I got loads at mo and had to take some out of composter (Dalek) and out in some old bags of compost I got from shops to reuse at a later date

Sally_A

An old tomato puree tube, cut open and washed out, then cut into strips is good, it is so soft the indentations made by a ball point pen (even an old inkless one) last.

It does have sharp edges, so you may want to keep out of reach of youngsters - but hey! they've only got to hurt themselves once, and they won't meddle with your plant labels again.

Re veg, I tend to label the seed trays with pencil on old business cards, yes they do get a bit soggy, but last until they are planted out. Once planted out, I have a plan of the garden in a journal type book, so know what I planted where. (My Jack O' Lantern pumpkin still turned into a Harrier butternut somehow - doh!).

emiff6

Painkiller wrote: »

Funnily enough it would be more hassle to source lollipop sticks & a pencil. I'm not too sure how the wooden lollipop sticks would hold up in the boggy conditions of the pots my carnivorous plants are in.

100 lolly sticks for £1.49 on e-bay - free off the local kids when the ice cream van has been round - pencils..... doesn't every home contain at least one pencil??? The end of the stick can be waterproofed with a dab of Vaseline, or oil, or if you must, varnish. Anyway, I thought bogs preserved wood (and prehistoric cavemen)!:D