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borderokie

labeling tomatoes

borderokie
10 years ago

Anyone have any good (cheap) ideas for how to label your tomatoes in the garden. I have a map of everything I planted in the house. But then when I am in the garden I have to go back in the house and get the map to know which kind is which.

Comments (8)

  • slowpoke_gardener
    10 years ago

    I cut scrap lumber to make stakes to drive in the ground and tape a name tag made from window blind. I am getting away from the stakes because I sometimes trip over them. This year I have just been trying opening the soil up with a hand tool and poking one end of the window blind into the soil. Where I have trellises I tape or tie the tag to the trellis. I am going to get better pins for marking the labels because the sun will bleach some of the ink, turning the labels to the north helps. I think using a garden marking pin would be better.

    On you tomatoes place the tag high to keep the plant from covering the tag.

    I buy electrical tape from Harbor Freight for $3.99 for 10 rolls when it is on sale and I use old hay twine for strings.

  • mjandkids
    10 years ago

    If you have old mini blinds (or find them at a yard sale like I did) you can cut the slats and use those for labels. I learned that on here a few years back from...Ilene? It works great!

  • mjandkids
    10 years ago

    Heh, I guess I should have read Larry's post before I posted :-)

  • shallot
    10 years ago

    I got a bag of popsicle sticks from the dollar store and spray painted them bright pink. We write the names on in sharpie. The popsicle sticks are a little small but they're so bright once painted that they're easy to find!

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    10 years ago

    Some years I tape the mini-blind slat plant label to the stake used to stake the tomato cage. Other years, I just put the mini-blind slat in the soil, and I bury it deeply so it doesn't blow away. I use garden marking pens at times, but I find their quality has deteriorated a lot over the last decade or so and lately I've been using the Industrial Sharpie, which works a lot better than a regular Sharpie. Some of the plant tags I've made using Industrial sharpies have lasted at least 3 years without fading. I have purchased Industrial Sharpies in 3-packs at places like Staples, Lowe's and Home Depot the last few years.

    I've used mini-blind slats as labels for at least a decade and they are my favorite plant labels because they hold up really well. One old mini-blind that was about to go into the trash will give you virtually a lifetime supply of plant labels.

    Dawn

  • MiaOKC
    10 years ago

    I also use vinyl mini-blind slats cut to about 6-8" to make labels - we have a nearly never-ending supply of these blinds from changing them out at our house for the sturdier 2" wood blinds, and one mini-blind makes about a million tags so I think I will never run out (a new vinyl mini-blind like that is only $4 at Walmart). I use a sharpie, but it does tend to fade. Got a good tip at the Spring Fling to use a China marker instead, for no-fade lettering, but I'd already made my tags so I will try it next year.

    My best idea (I think) so far has been to write the mature size of something on the label, so I know when it is ready to pick. For example, I planted several different kinds of beans that mature at different sizes and I want to pick before they get tough, and one is meant to become a dry bean so I don't want to pick it at all for a while, so I'd write "Tenderpod 5-7 inches" or "Such and Such bean 4 inches" or whatever. That's saved me after I'd kept running back to the house to look at the back of my seed packets when harvesting cukes that are supposed to only get about 6" and I could never tell if they were as big as they were gonna get or if I'd let them get too big and bitter.

  • luvncannin
    10 years ago

    Those are great ideas. As I try more new varieties that will be handy to keep up. I already lost track of my tomatoes this year.

  • borderokie
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Man I don't know how many of those I have thrown away!Thanks guess I'll just have to buy some.