Unfortunately, many gardeners still buy plastic plant labels for their gardening efforts. But plastic plant labels are a completely unnecessary purchase. You can make your own plant labels quickly and easily without costing the planet. To help you turn over a more ethical, eco-friendly leaf, here are some eco-friendly plant label ideas for your garden:
Simple Sticks
One of the easiest ways to make plant labels is to whittle sticks. All you need is a stick from your garden and a sharp knife to pare off a section and make it flat. You can then use the flattened section of the stick to write on with a bold pencil. For a more enduring solution, you could also consider using pyrography to burn letters into the stick.
Hand-Painted Rocks
Using an eco-friendly chalk paint to decorate rocks is a fun way to mark plants in your garden. Hand-painting rocks can be a fun activity for those of all ages and you can give your creativity free reign. Why not find appropriately shaped rocks to mark your carrots, or tomatoes, then paint them to resemble the different vegetables and fruits?
Ceramic Tiles
Ceramic tiles can also make good decorative markers for your garden – and it does not matter if they are chipped or incomplete. Often, broken or remnant tiles can be picked up very cheaply or free of charge. You can use eco-friendly paints to decorate them, or use blackboard paint and chalk to write on the names of the plants.
Glass Jars
Empty seed packets can be useful to mark rows. One idea is to place each seed packet on a stick/ section of cane and to cover with a glass jar. You could also decorate a glass jar in a range of different ways to serve as plant labels and garden art in one.
Letter Stamped Vintage Metal Spoons
This cool idea does involve investing a little time and money, but can make good, long-lasting plant labels that will look great in your garden. Old metal spoons can be picked up cheaply and easily online or from junk shops/ jumble sales etc... if you also buy a letter press, letter stamps or similar, you could flatter out the head of the spoon and use these to write your plant identifiers.