I’ve tried many options to label plants in the garden. They range from wood craft sticks, to the larger tongue depressors, to painted wooden serving spoons, to Yogurtland spoons, to metal embossed markers. The wood products do not last long with the water and sun wearing it down.The permanent marker writing starts to bleed through the wood with exposure to water. Even with paint or nail polish on the wood, the water somehow gets inside and the wood rots from the inside out. The thick plastic spoons from Yogurtland are sturdy and withstand the weather. However acrylic paint peels right off of it. Permanent marker does stay more visible than on wood. Eventually the marker fades off. The metal steel markers end up rusting in the soil. Additionally, the names are limited to the generic names and labels that are pre-embossed.
We grow so many different varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, beans, squash, basil, dill, and other vegetables and herbs (and we save heirloom seeds) that we needed something that would endure the elements.
One day when my kids were rock painting for fun, I joined in and started painting the different vegetables and fruits we planted. Those original rock markers have lasted us 5 years and counting! Recently they were pictured in a post about the restart of our garden and I received a lot of feedback about the rock markers. I reached out to the kids’ art teacher and he agreed to do a mini art lesson using the Yellow Zebra tomato as an example. Follow along for the painting lesson if you’re interested!