Homemade Garden Markers

Happy Friday everyone!  This is a quick, fun, and cheap project to do with your family this weekend.  For awhile I have been looking for garden marker ideas.  I used craft sticks last year but by the middle of the summer they were either broken in half or lost somewhere in the raised bed.  There are so many beautiful metal and copper markers that I have found on the internet, but I decided that I would rather spend my money on the actual garden and not on decorations.  This project cost $4 total and I am very happy with the outcome.
I know many people do not mark their gardens, but I love the look of marked gardens and it is a helpful learning tool for Big C.  He is a new reader and having the garden marked is a fun way for him to increase his vocabulary and learn what each plant looks like from the first sprouts until harvest.  Here is how I made them..

While Mr. G was making one of his frequent trips to Home Depot, I asked him to sweet talk the paint department into giving us 25 of the free paint stir sticks.  Mr. G gave me an odd look when I made this request, but none the less, he got the task done.  I had an extra can on Rustoleum Indoor/Outdoor paint in Green Apple from my garden sign project and knew that that would be my color of choice.  I gave the sticks two coats of paint on either side, let it dry for 24 hours, and presto I had some really cute garden markers.

Here is my garden sign where the Green Apple paint was originally used..

Once the paint was completely dry I used a black sharpie to label my markers.  For extra protection, I  sprayed a clear coat finish on the lettering.  See how easy it is!  I painted mine all green, but if you were feeling really crafty I think that a rainbow assortment would look amazing!  Right now the markers stand out like a sore thumb, but once everything is growing I think they will look beautiful against my heirloom tomato plants or my scarlet runner bean tepee.  Now if I would just start seeing some green pop through the soil I would be a happy girl!

As always, thanks for stopping by Throwback Road and have a wonderful weekend!

Do you use garden markers in your garden?