I think you all have created the monster in me! Thanks! I love all your ideas! Do a lot of Gardeners have a bit of OCD in them? ? ? The need for Perfection?

I am not one that does labels/ I have only one label that came with Hillbilly Heart when I bought that one. I am OCD and would drive myself crazy!!

I do however keep maps that I draw in Pencil so that when I move plants around I can change them easily on the map. However I hate ugly eraser marks so I have to redo them every couple of years.!!

I do little drawings in Excel. But then, I do everything in Excel.

LOL!!! I WANT to do drawings, and I do start them, but I never finish. I just have the map in my head. Mostly the labels tell me when something isn't there and I need to replace it or get something new!

Bonehead said:I also use the metal tags and clear labels printed by my Brothers P-Touch. The only way I have found to eliminate the approximate 1/2" waste when printing individual labels is to run my labels as one long string, putting about 2-3 hard spaces between names and then hand cutting them. This works well for one line and if you use the clear tape - I think it would look a bit strange using white tape as all the labels end up being different sizes. I mostly only label my herbs, both for my use and for others when walking through my labyrinth, and I just label with the common name. Sometimes I do want a second line, in which case I run that as a second label (again running several together) and just position it slightly below the name label. That way it is easy to have the name be a large bold font and the descriptor a smaller font.

My tags and labels have been in use for about 4 years and remain very clear. The only problem I have is occasional weed-wack damage to those I have placed a bit too close to the garden edge and send flying. That usually just twists the legs and bit, and is easy to rectify.

You should be able to opt for a setting called chain printing that will accomplish the same task without having to enter everything at once. Plus, should your machine have an automatic cutter, it will cut them without running all that waste out.

I have a simple version of the P-Touch (1280) and it is 7 years old so likely not as sophisticated as newer ones. I can either set the label length to a specific size or choose 'auto' but in either event there is a significant amount of waste if I cut individual labels. I can do up to 3 lines of text, but I like the actual name of the plant to be in the largest font and have not figured out if/how to change font size within a label. My work-around is to print the plant name in large font for the top label and use a smaller font for a double line second label if I want to include more information. Mostly, I just use a single label. Using the clear tape, it all blends in well against the metal.

That's a handy work around - I thought I would share because it seems like they keep hiding things to make us buy more label tape!

Oh man, am I going to have to read the instructions?

Mine just says P-touch, 3/4". Oh, I see on the back, PT-1830. Guess I'll have to see if I can find the instructions!

I have PT 65. I think it's old. I don't think it could fit a wider cartridge. Shucks. Oh well. If I can remember the name of my plants and that's a big IF, I probably can only remember one skinny name anyway. :rolf:

I am lucky enough to know a guy that makes plant markers. He makes them very solid built because I hate the ones where the label part pops off from the part that sticks in the ground. I buy them for $1.50 each. He made me some special ones for $6.00 for my Star Trek daylilies and hosta with the insigna laser cut. Then I put the name on with my Brother P Touch label maker.

I appreciate the comments on how to cut down waste. I will look into that.

At first I was only marking my daylilies but know I am trying to mark all my plants because it is easy to forget which varieties of other plants I have bought.

Arlene, if you can't find your actual instruction manual, you can likely find it on-line.

Oh yes, don't you love the internet? Thanks for reminding me!

@ShadyGreenThumb Here's one more idea: Use wooden clothes pins. Take a sharpie, and write the plant name on it. Stick something in next to the plant, and clip the clothes pin on what you stuck in next to the plant. To make these last longer, you could coat the clothes pin with clear varnish. You could also laminate an empty seed packet and attach that as well.

If you have a rustic style, you could use thin tree branches. Or, you can clip them to the tomato cages. I know what variety they are, but many visitors have no clue about heirlooms and how they are supposed to look. It is a very educational experience sometimes. "Wow, those green tomatoes are ripe?" "Why is that one so bumpy and mis-shapen? Oh, I see it's supposed to look like that!"

Make your own - cheap and easy to do:

http://garden.org/ideas/view/X...

Anne, that rocks! You saved me today!!

Vinyl mini blind slats can be written on with a permanent marker, but the elements ruin the writing within months. Good for labeling plants one is taking to a swap though. I got some plants in trade with these kinds of labels and appreciated that very much! It can take a few 'tries' to learn the name of a new plant. Especially the really long ones I've never read about before.

Sharpie does make an "Industrial Super Permanent Ink" marker, and it comes in Fine Point as well as other points. It is far more durable than the "regular" permanent ink.

Here is my idea. But I like the idea of a more arboretum look.

http://garden.org/ideas/view/S...

I think that pencil markings last longer on plastic mini-blind slats than conventional Magic Markers do. My pencil markings are readable 2 years later (but do fade out after that).

They start out much fainter than MM ink, but sharper. I need the narrow-line sharpness because my handwriting is shaky. If it's wide-line as well as shaky, it's illegible. So I use mechanical pencils because they're always sharp, and I can choose a 0.9 mm, 0.7 mm or 0.5 mm width.

I keep my eyes open for the "Industrial" fine-point Sharpies, but don't want to pay S&H from Amazon just to try them out.

I'm fine with the messy look of mini-blind slats, especially on rows of vegetables.

I don't yet have many perennials whose names I know, for which I would need a truly permanent placard. And those few named perennials serve as the "landmarks" on my little maps, so i have their names written where they CAN'T fade: in computer files.

I either purchased the Industrial Super Permanent markers at WalMart or Office Depot. Since they are truly fine-point, you don't have to worry about the breath of the writing either. I have never used them on mini-blinds, but I would think they would last as long on this surface as any other. I do have some mini-blinds (put up in the attic, thinking they might be good for something one day), so I will see what this looks like.

For my tropical plants, I do my own custom laminated labels, but I know that no one will go to the trouble and expense to do what I do. I use the Sharpie markers for my vegetables and non-tropical plants.

>> Industrial Super Permanent markers at WalMart or Office Depot

Thanks!