free garden markers

I needed thousands of tags for plants for an upcoming plant sale - this is an upscale thing you have to apply to get into, and I figured my usual popsicle sticks wouldn't quite cut it. (Also, many people find them too small to read.) I looked for markers at the nursery supply sites and was horrified at the prices. I put a notice on freecycle asking for old plastic miniblinds, and two people each gave me about one or two rooms' worth - three or four good sized windows, from the looks of them. Taken apart, cleaned up, cut to size, they've yielded about four thousand markers. And, happily, I got two colors, which will be helpful because I'll sell plants for two prices, and this will make that part of the process easier.

Metal miniblinds will give you some nasty sharp edges and I wanted to stay away from that with customers, although I'll use them around my own place. Less of a risk with plastic. I can tell you that a fat and fresh Sharpie will last a year-plus in sun on metal, but I usually write the name on both ends so that one is underground, just in case the top part wears off. For the plant sale, I'm concerned about a shorted period of time - I don't know if the marking will last as long on plastic, so if you try this, keep an eye on it.

The cleaning-up part was a bit of a pain because they were pretty grimy, but the cutting-up part happened over several nights of watching the evening news. Four thousand free markers is a significant $ savings.

katie