Since I work outside the home and divide my time between the job, family and my home I decided to also weigh cost versus my time. For example, other gardeners have suggested newspaper pots versus the peat pots that I purchase. For a few bucks versus an hour or two of my time, I purchase the peat pots. I purchase them on clearance and save them for the next growing season. I have made the newspaper pots, see my post here, but I prefer the peat pots because of the time it takes to make them. They work great and I may use them again when time is on my side or when I need to save money for something else that I want. Maybe a new variety of seed!
Now lets talk about plant markers. I just couldn't spend the money that retail stores were asking. Here's where I make my trade, I made my own. I had tons of milk jugs from my winter sowing. More than I needed. I will save the extra for next year's sowing, but decided to use a few to make plant markers. I cut out as much as the milk jug as I could from each side, and whipped these babies out in 10 - 15 minutes. Nothing fancy, but worth the effort and the money that I'll save. Maybe enough to cover the cost of my clearance peat pots or new seeds for next season, hehe. You can use a marker or pen to trace an old marker or just make them free hand. I made mine free hand. You can make them as long or as wide as you like. Use a permanent marker for writing the name of your plant. That's my DIY gardening tip for the week. If you've already purchased markers this year, there's always next year. Happy Growing! Please share a DIY project that you use. Maybe I'll implement it next season or this one if I can.
