My biggest problem with markers that I write on is my handwriting!

Same with my handwriting Chris. I start out trying to be very careful, before you know it my hands are shaking and even I can't read what I write.

valleylynn said:I bet the bleach bottles last much longer than the plastic plant tags? How long have you had them last Kate.
Love the artist graphite pencil tip.
Kate, that's another one you should turn into Trish. Both the bleach bottle tags and the artists graphite pencil. Two separate tips.
You have great tips.

Bleach bottle tags last at least 3 years for me and I've had some last for 5. I'll send these tips along to Trish, thanks.

twitcher said:Kate, any reason for the bleach bottles? I tried milk cartons but they were too slick for the pencils.

Bleach bottles are some sort of UV stabilized plastic that stays white & flexible in sunlight and are easily cut with scissors or a serrated knife.

I'll try the bleach bottles. However, I no longer have problems with losing my new tags as I print the tag names at least twice on the tags. Once above ground for me to read and the other goes on the tag below ground where the dirt shields it from the UV. If the tag gets brittle and breaks off or fades too much, the portion in the ground is still legible. I'm still revisiting older tags and redoing them as they start to fade, but this approach has been in use for several years now, so losing names has become much less of a problem.

I have two distinctly different sets of signs: big, informational ones for folks to read and the smaller pot tags that I put underground in a corner of one of the bed divisions. This is because (at the end of the season) I cover my raised beds with landscape fabric to keep locust leaves, seed pods, and stems out of the semps. I have so many sorts now that when I pull the large signs out and lay them down, I can't always tell which sign goes with which semp. Thus the "reminder" tags in the bed corners.

I was going to upload a couple of pictures to explain, but that functions doesn't seem to work for me tonight.

I had that problem with photos yesterday Kate. I talked to Dave about it. Not sure what is causing the problem. I am back to uploading photos since I started resizing them to 800 pixels in width.

Do you leave the fabric on all through winter? If so how do the plants get enough light?

Yep, fabric stays - light isn't much of an issue since they mostly have 3'-4' of snow throughout the winter covering them (yes, that's feet, not inches).

Good heavens Kate. That's a lot of snow. They close the schools here if we get one or two inches. It happens once, maybe twice in a winter. The snow last anywhere from a few hours to a few days.

I used to put my strawberry jars in the unheated, unlit garage for the complete winter. Never had a problem with them dying out under those conditions, they seems to just go dormant and wait for better conditions when in cold and dark.

I think mine are wishing for the cold and dark right now.

Has anyone ever used just a plain old #2 pencil for marking on metal garden markers? My concern is that it may wash away.

Hi Sandi, how are things going.
I haven't used pencil on metal, just plastic. Maybe we should do an experiment? I've been using the TZ tape from Brothers.

picklepuff said:Has anyone ever used just a plain old #2 pencil for marking on metal garden markers? My concern is that it may wash away.

I've used pencil on metal garden markers and it does not disappear.

Thank you Kate. Now I won't have to do the experiment.
How is your weather this time of year?

Thank you Kate for the info. By the way, all of the semps you sent me are doing wonderful. I built two new beds and just transferred everything into the new beds. Right now is a wonderful time to plant in Colorado.

It is a great time for planting here in my are of the US also. The drought is over and the plants are loving the soft rain showers.

Sandi we'd love to see photos of your new beds. Before and after photos are amazing to see the changes from one season to another.

I bit the bullet and bought one of these Brother P-touches on ebay. For some reason I thought buying this used model for $20 and paying $8 shipping was a great deal. But actually, on Amazon I could have gotten a newer version, unused, with a full reel of tape for $20 and free shipping. Anyway, it works awesome, and so simple to use. The last label maker I used was one of those Dymo guns in the 70's. Seems like label makers have come a long way since then. I'm now struggling with the big decision, white on black or black on white.

Oh the struggle in making decisions. I have both.
Wow, great new toy Tim. I love mine, even if it is an older model.

There are also black on clear and the option of extra strength adhesive ....more decisions!