Homemade Garden Markers

Every spring and fall when I plant the garden, I keep records of what is planted, when it is planted and where it is planted.  I keep all this in a note pad that I can put in my back pocket and carry with me into the garden.  I am aware of software programs that allow you to map out your garden so that you know all that data, but you can't conveniently take it outside with you.

To confuse matters, sometimes I plant saved seed that might be a little old.  If the germination isn't good, I'll dig up the ones that did come up and move them so that I can use that row for a planting of something else.  When I do that, it REALLY messes up my system.  Especially cole crops all look the same for the first month or two.  It makes it hard to know what I have planted on each row.

We've tried garden markers, but they didn't work.  The combination of sun and rain faded them so that you couldn't read what was on the label.  By the end of the season, they fell apart.  I figured this year I would use a little redneck engineering and make my own.  The only thing you'll need is: A quart sized yogurt container, a Sharpie, and scissors.

I cut of the ring at the top of the container and then cut inch-wide strips all the way down.

Then, I cut a point on one side and use the Sharpie to label the crop planted along with the date a planted it.  The date is a little something I added later.  If you know your crop matures in 90 days, you can inspect each row and anticipate when you'll be harvesting.

In the row below, I have 3 separate crops on one row: Rainbow Swiss Chard, Brussels Sprouts, and Bok Choy (Chinese Cabbage).  The markers help show where one crop ends and the other begins.

No more guesswork in trying to figure out what is in row 7 between the carrots and the beets.  Our handy-dandy row markers clearly show us.

We're still in the middle of a hot summer; however, yesterday morning and this morning, it wasn't quite as humid and there was a slight breeze.  We look forward to fall and winter and look forward to all of the fall garden crops.  We'll talk about what we planted later this week.  Perhaps this year we won't have to deal with two hurricanes...