crunchy bits

Today we’re heading back to the garden for some more seed-starting ideas. Specifically, making plant labels from aluminum cans. Recycling AND making something you can reuse again and again. Perfect!

It was harder than I expected to lop off the top and bottom of the can with scissors, so I used the tin snips to make it a little easier. Perhaps your scissors would be up to the task, but alas, not so mine.

Cutting a ring around the top, then straight down one side of the can and another ring around the bottom left some rough edges, which I was easily able to trim off with my lame-ish scissors.

The metal was still fairly curled, holding fast to memories of its previous incarnation as a can, so I rolled them the other way and had rubber bands hold them this way for 20 minutes or so. Not a necessary step, but this did make it easier for me to do the rest of the cutting, etc. Once I unrolled one, I folded it in half, making two 4-inch long pieces of metal, which I then cut into four 4-inch by almost 1-inch wide strips.

Since the kids help with these, I trimmed most of the top edges into a rounded shape. But you can see that I experimented with alternatives to this as well. I also folded the opposite end as you would starting some paper airplane folds to make a pointed, reinforced edge to stick into the soil.

The last step is writing in the plant names. I did it both ways, with the “Tomato ‘Sioux’ ” sample being written directly on the silver side of the marker. I also tried the alternative (says “Tomato ’sweet pea’ ” which, for me, involved writing the words backwards on a piece of paper, and then copying the backwards letters onto the printed side of the can. This gives an embossed appearance to the letters. After doing a few and getting my brain into the backwards letter mode, I didn’t have to write them out on paper first, but it did take a few attempts before I was in the ‘zone’.

I can’t say I do this for seed starting, I like my popsicle sticks with a sharpie jes’ fine for the many labels I need. But I would consider labeling the many new herbs we’ve decided to grow this year with these more weatherproof markers. I probably won’t limit myself to the small, utilitarian labels above, but make bigger labels with some decorative touches like scrollwork, etc. as well.

I found details for this idea at little house in the suburbs, and I love the herb label they ended with and plan to make something along these lines for our own until we’re more familiar with them and can identify them in the blink of an eye.