Garden Markers

**I got inspiration from a blog about a month ago... but I didn't bookmark it,

if it was you, let me know, I'd love to give you credit!****

When we started the garden, I put in the plastic 'markers' that came with each plant... but they were kinda boring, and I'm always looking for another project.

So, over the weekend, while my love and sweet girl were bike riding, I grabbed a grocery bag and my pruning shears, and wandered to the far side of the subdivision. We have 4 phases in our subdivision, and only 2 are built out (with the 3rd just starting...). Ont the back side of the subdivision is trees. Lots of trees. I love them. They are so green (growing up in New Mexico, you notice green!), and have so many sticks. I also love sticks! They saw me at some point, and came an joined me for my trek in 'the woods'. The biggest part of the trek was getting through the foot high grasses, but hey, it was fun! I cut the dead branches off the trees that were about 1" in diameter. Then I cut them into 10-12 inch lengths.

Once we got home, I used my husbands box cutter to scrap off the bark, and get an even surface. At his wise suggestion, I put the stopper in the sink to stop all the bark and such from actually going down our drain. We figured that might not have the best outcome!

This is what my kitchen looked like.... I did a good 'overhaul' clean that morning, and had to re do the sink area after I got done!

When I got them all scraped, I used a thin point sharpie to write each plant name on them. I took them outside and used clear gloss spray paint to seal the writing. I learned that you do not want to spray close, otherwise the sharpie will bleed. Instead, do lots of light, far-away coats until the writing is covered (12"+). Then you can spray closer to get a thicker coverage, and better protection.

This picture is blurry, but you can tell the writing got messed up... this was one that I started spraying to close.

Once they were dry, I took them out, and used my small hammer to put them in next to the plants in the garden.

My love commented, "but you already knew what they were". Yes, I did, but this was fun, looks cool, and way better then the plastic tags!