Garden Markers, Gardening, Outdoor DIY, Tutorial

DIY Plant Markers

May 9, 2012 By Barb Camp 19 Comments

I have always wanted some fun garden markers. The ones they sell at garden centers are either too boring or too expensive to do your whole garden with them. My daughter bought me 4 spoon herb markers for my birthday a couple of years ago. I love them! but there are only 4 and to do all my herbs would be a lot of money and they don’t even make them for some of the herbs I have. So, I set my mind to work to see if I could come up with something that I could make for cheap. Something that was fun and something that would hold up under the elements. This is what I came up with:

Gather your supplies:

A package of shims

Mod Podge

Gloss Sealer

Paint brushes

Bottles of paint

The image of herbs and veggies- I have included a free download

The only thing I had to purchase was a package of shims for 3.70. You can buy those at Home Depot or Lowes.

I started by going to public domain sites and downloading pictures of herbs and veggies that I plant. I edited and re-sized them all in Photoshop Elements.

Vegetables

Herbs

Start by painting the shims.

Don’t those look so fun! I LOVE color!!!

Cut your images apart.

Start adding Mod Podge to your shim. Add your image. Put a coat of Mod Podge on top.

When the Mod Podge is dry add a coat of Gloss sealer.I purchased mine at JoAnn Fabrics. This will make the image waterproof as well as protect the shim so that it will last longer.

I’m very pleased with how they turned out!!!!

Download Veggie images here:

Download Herb images here:

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Comments

Michelles Tasty Crea says: May 11, 2012 at 12:54 AM
Brilliant! I can't wait to use this idea in my garden. What a fun, colorful way to label everything. Thanks so much for linking up to Creative Thursday.Michelle
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[email protected] says: May 11, 2012 at 11:23 PM
Thank you Michelle! Thanks for visiting! I'm so glad you can use these. Mine look great in my garden. Have a great weekend!
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Cheryl @ Sew Can Do says: May 20, 2012 at 8:54 PM
Cute idea & just in time - my ceramic markers finally bit the dust. Thanks for linking to Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do:)
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thistlewoodfarm says: May 31, 2012 at 2:05 AM
What an awesome idea to use the shims! I love the fun colors that you painted them!Happy Great Outdoors to you!blessings,karianne
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[email protected] says: June 1, 2012 at 7:17 PM
Cheryl thanks for visiting my blog and for commenting!! I love seeing them in my garden. So bright and fun!!! Thanks again!
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[email protected] says: June 1, 2012 at 7:20 PM
Thanks Karianne~ I love seeing all the color in my gardens. Thanks for visiting.
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Eclectically Vintage says: June 3, 2012 at 11:25 PM
Fun, simple, cute - my criteria for any craft! Thanks for coming to the party.Kelly
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Kelley @ TheGrantLif says: May 13, 2013 at 10:15 PM
Super cute idea! I love this!
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Scrappin Hard says: March 4, 2014 at 12:50 AM
I just printed off the labels, I loved your project and hope to recreate it tonight! Thanks a million for the idea!
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Susan {ofeverymoment says: April 21, 2014 at 12:47 AM
I love these plant markers and pinned the idea to my "grow" board on pinterest! I might just cut pictures off the seed packages! And I already have some shims. Thanks for the fun idea!
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Pam says: May 17, 2014 at 10:22 PM
How far does would a small bottle of acrylic paint go? As in, how many shims does one bottle cover? Trying to figure out my purchase. Thank you!
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Betty819 says: July 4, 2014 at 10:56 PM
What a nifty idea! In what part of the Home Improvement store would you find these type shims? I'm assumming in the lumber dept. Crown Molding dept.? i don't grow veggies but do raise flowers. One could use the flower catalog photoes, and label them, plus add height the flower will grow to..It will then help with the placement. I was just looking at all the different heights of coneflowers I have and thinking that a lot need to be planted further in the back row. When you snitch dried seed pods, you don't always write down how tall the plant grows..unless you take a tape measure with you which is not a bad idea. If you collect flower seed pods, take along the brown lunch bags and a magic marker so you can write the name of the flower and color and height it grows. Now I hope I can remember to do all of this when I go "snitching" or deadheading flowers in public places!
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Arline says: August 3, 2014 at 3:44 PM
These are great! Thanks for sharing. Ps. Broccoli is spelled incorrectly. ;)
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- bjac68 says: August 3, 2014 at 9:44 PM
  Thank you so much for pointing that out to me. I really appreciate it and I fixed it as well. Thanks for stopping by/
  Reply
Erika says: August 21, 2014 at 2:24 AM
Hey there just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know a few of the pictures aren't loading properly. I'm not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I've tried it in two different internet browsers and both show the same outcome.
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- bjac68 says: August 21, 2014 at 10:00 PM
  Thank yo u for letting me know. I'm not sure what the issue is but I can see it in Chrome.
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jordanlebouton says: April 17, 2015 at 8:21 AM
So cute. Thank you for doing the hard part. Editing and sizing. I am hopeless at it. My son and I are planting our very first garden. I am going to put these together for a gift for his hard work.
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- bjac68 says: April 17, 2015 at 5:29 PM
  That makes me so happy that I can help you bless your son! Thanks for stopping by to tell me you like them. Have a great day!!!
  Reply