We’ve been sowing the first round of plant seeds into trays and pots during the past couple of weeks. We sow a lot of different kinds of seeds, so it’s important to keep track of which seeds were planted in each container.

It’s so easy to get pots or cells mixed up, especially when sowing seeds of the same species but different variety. It happens to professional growers, too. Labels For Clothing Tags

I can’t count how many times I’ve gone to a greenhouse to purchase what I thought was one variety of a plant and it turned out to be something else. For example, buying a six pack of plants that were labeled as a plum tomato but then only to find out after weeks and weeks of growing in the garden that it was a slicing tomato instead. Or one variety of marigold that was supposed to be orange turned out to be yellow. This seems to be happening more and more the past few years. I’m wondering if it because growers are short on help and their employees have more work than they can efficiently handle.

Years ago I was growing from seed around eighteen to twenty thousand plants a year, many of them were different varieties of flowers that were the same species. Sometimes I would have helpers during seedling transplant time. I had to constantly remind them to keep plants together. It especially became a problem when they became distracted when wearing their headphones.

It can easily happen at home with your own plants if you are not careful. So don’t skimp on tags or markers. I’ve learned from experience to use plant labels liberally and don’t try to cut corners with them. If I have a tray of seedlings planted, often I will label each six pack or each individual cell if need be.

It’s easy to group together one variety of plants and place them in a tray with just one label for the whole group. Then to save space, place a similar variety next to it also with a single tag in what seems like a logical spot.

After several days or weeks go by, you look at them again and scratch your head trying to figure out just exactly what plants belong together. That’s a common way to mix your plants up.

To avoid the problem of misidentified plants, use way more tags than you think you need. You can buy plant labels or better still, make your own.

As it turns out, mini-blind slats make fine pot labels. The slats are just about the same width as the labels that are sold in gardening departments every spring.

Not long ago the frame on one of our window blinds snapped as I was pulling on the cord to open it and the whole works crashed to the floor. Instead of getting all upset about it I looked at it as huge pile of free pot labels.

One big advantage that these homemade markers have over the garden-store variety is that you can easily cut them with a pair of scissors to whatever length you need; short ones for flats of seedlings, or longer ones for potted plants.

Since each set of blinds can be cut into dozens if not hundreds of markers, you won't be tempted to skimp on labels. That way every pot or six-pack divider can have it's own tag, or even individual cells in the packs for that matter. Because you can make as many as you need, homemade tags decreases the chance that seedlings will be mislabeled.

As a bonus, re-purposing old blinds reduces the amount of plastic debris going to the landfill, at least temporarily. It will be used one more time before it is discarded. You save a few bucks along the way, plus, I think it's fun making your own gardening supplies.

You don’t have to break your blinds just to have tag making material. I’ve seen them at garage sales where the homeowner bought the wrong size and have them for sale. Surplus or thrift stores sell them at a big discount, too.

What should you use to with on your labels? Many people use permanent markers. That’s OK but marker ink can fade and may not last more than one season.

My long time tested choice is a plain old graphite pencil. I’ve seen labels with pencil markings last for years in the bright sun without fading.

Outdoor garden planting can be as soon as early May in our area. A little earlier for cool weather crops like lettuce or cabbage and a bit later for warm season crops such as tomatoes or peppers. So gather your seeding supplies now. Many common plants are seeded indoors at eight to ten weeks before planting into the garden.

Cotton Crochet Wash Cloth Label Now, in early February, we’re about twelve weeks, give or take, from outdoor planting.