[Comfr3y]

Dear All

I don't like those white lollipop ones and I'm struggling to see the point of copper tags (do slugs eat plant labels?) or computer software. also dont really want to transcribe seed packets. whats your thoughts on easy and sightly ways of keeping track of whats what? 

[surbie100]

I've got lots and lots of cheap black plastic labels for my pots. I use a chalk marker on them and the writing doesn't fade or come off, but can be easily cleaned off with soapy water. Works for me. 

I tried wooden ones (writing bleeds when damp), I don't like white ones either, and I tried writing on the pots, which is more faff in cleaning than I can be bothered with.

[Kristen]

I use standard 4" plastic ones - I buy them in large bulk boxes. I write on them with indelible (not all indelibles survive sun over a season but I struggle to write on them with pencil in a way that is easy to read, but pencil does seem to last).  When I plant out I push the label into the soil such that the important writing is away from the sun.

The labels perish after a couple of seasons exposed to the sun, so I don't attempt much reuse, but I do put all last years into a box and try to reuse them, for same crop, next season.

I also use coloured ones - so I use a written label for just one pot,and then a coloured one (unlabelled) for it and all its matching brothers.  I have 4 colours, so provided there are only 4 look-alikes for a given variety that saves me having to label every one (and for occasional larger groups I double up to extend the 4 colours to red+yellow and so on).  Its not as reliable as individual named labels (e.g. one pot gets left on the bench, and all it has is a plain red label, I can tell that it is a Salvia, but no longer have any idea what variety as I have planted out all its brothers, and removed their coloured labels, just leaving the one named label ...). The coloured lablels get reused every year, and are also used when marking plants to come in for the winter - all the ones of save-variety to be groupoed together, but also things that want dry / warm / whatever so that they get grouped together in the conservatory for over wintering.

[Enfield Glen]

Wooden stirrers that you get at coffee shops that are like thin ice lolly sticks. You can get them at cash and carry shops but need to be protected once written on with wood varnish or cheap nail varnish works. I have @ 2000 that only cost a couple of quid. They are good for seeds but may not last the season in the ground but are recyclable.

[Headgardener22]

The labels perish after a couple of seasons exposed to the sun, so I don't attempt much reuse, but I do put all last years into a box and try to reuse them, for same crop, next season.

I've found that a simple way to clean them is to use wire wool then you can use them for something different. I bought a box of 1000 labels four years ago and they're still going strong.

[Kristen]

If they aren't becoming brittle, in the sun, as yet then they are far better quality than mine

[kirpi]

I use the soft white plastic of a well known organic slug pellets container, cut into label sized strips and pointed at one end for pushing easily into the soil; a job for winter. The powers-that-be won't recycle white plastic where I live so it is a good way of reusing resources.

Write on with permanent pen and scrape off with a penknife when using again.

[TheWhiteRabbit]

I once saw a really nice idea of using large pebbles and paint the names on them. I'd give it a go but I know my young children will have great fun mixing them all up!

[Headgardener22]

If they aren't becoming brittle, in the sun, as yet then they are far better quality than mine

Maybe I've just got so many, I haven't noticed them disappearing.

[devonbarmygardener]

The powers-that-be won't recycle white plastic where I live so it is a good way of reusing resources.

Fussy beggars down your way!

I did make nice large wooden ones (like they use at Killerton House veggy garden in Devon) - just 2x1 wood cut down to about a foot, painted in white satinwood paint.
They look lovely and the permanent markers don't fade on those like they do on the plastic ones.
Repaint each winter (well... that was the plan anyway! )

[Comfr3y]

Brilliant ideas - thanks all, keep em coming. I love that we've covered the spectrum from twizzle stick size to 2x1!   I planted a selection of 8 apple trees a couple of years ago and all the tags have washed off. It seems thats pretty much a given from what everyone is saying. 

[Kristen]

I planted a selection of 8 apple trees a couple of years ago and all the tags have washed off. It seems thats pretty much a given from what everyone is saying.

I have a note-taking APP on my phone (Evernote - benefit is that it replicates to my PC and is stored/backed up online too, so hard to lose the content).  I list all the plants in my garden in that, one list per bed entered in "walking order" along the bed (using the number of Strides from the end of the bed as a measure).  That's only a problem if I plant two varieties of the same plant in front of each other but that doesn't happen often, and hopefully I can tell the difference between two plants of different Genus!!

My apples are planted in pollination order, so the names need noting (so to speak) whereas when I plant things such as Tomatoes (e.g. a row of 6-each of three varieties in the greenhouse) I plant them in alphabetical order - probably seems incredibly Anorak! but it doesn't half help when the labels go AWOL.

[Comfr3y]

wow- do you subscribe to evernote or can u do that on free version?

[Kristen]

wow- do you subscribe to evernote or can u do that on free version?

You can do that on the free version, but the phone-APP will only store-to-web and freshen-up when it is connected to a LAN - the paid-for version will also do that over the airwaves.

The phone stores the most recent version that it has seen (when last connected to the LAN), so you can use that in the garden, add/amend it etc. and it will upload back to web when it next sees a LAN.

However, for that to be effective you have to specifically "open" each note, on the phone APP, whilst connected to the LAN (you only need to do that for ones that have changed on the PC/other device, and there is an option to list the notes in Modified Date Order, so it only takes a moment to work down the list of ones that have actually changed ... I probably should pay for it, it probably costs me more faffing about than buying it!!)

I find Evernote very handy for jotting things down as they occur to me - even for an old codger like me it has replaced the little paper notebook I used to carry in a pocket, and enables me to revised & update my lists, instead of having endless crossings-out! plus I can cut & paste to other things (on my PC) [and cut &paste back to Evernote too, which then appears on my Phone APP]

Probable easier to just download the APP and the PC bit and have a go rather than me trying to describe it! Definitely worth a look IMHO.

If your home WiFi reaches down the garden then it would be a no brainer for that purpose

[Snoop]

That's only a problem if I plant two varieties of the same plant in front of each other but that doesn't happen often, and hopefully I can tell the difference between two plants of different Genus!!

I stick a label on just one rather than both varieties. Mind you, I have to remember which one I labelled. For example, I have Half Tall Early and Bronte sprouts in two rows, side by side. Have labelled the Brontes, so even if the writing fades on the label, the unlabelled ones must be HTE. (Hope that makes sense.)