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.
I also like to push in the legs quite a bit so they remain fairly unobtrusive.
I don't label my flower beds, I keep track of those by way of a database similar to the List option here, which then has much more complete information as well as location(s) in my beds and when/where I purchased the plant.
