Plant Markers from Recycled Plastic

Last week, I cut up an old plastic garbage can that rolled into my front garden. The can was broken in several places and unusable. I cut it in half with tin snips and trimmed off the bottom, creating a cylinder, and then I set it in my yard as a planter. I think I will put my watermelon seedlings in there and build a support right over it or maybe I’ll do some okra. Hmmm, decisions, decisions…I placed about 5 folded newspapers in the bottom of the planter before filling it with raised garden soil and potting mix. I saved some of the plastic scraps because they were smooth panels and I figured we could make something out of them. Well, yesterday I decided to make plant markers with my kiddo!

First, we cut the plastic into rectangles and then painted one half of each rectangle with white acrylic paint, which honestly is not the best for outdoor art but I do plan to seal it with rustoleum and hopefully it will last a while.

After the white paint dried, I started painting the vegetable shapes and names. I drew a butterfly on one of the panels, so my daughter could paint her own panel. After I finished painting the plant markers, I had my daughter add dots with a toothpick. They came out great for an impromptu craft! We took it one step further and added googly eyes to keep birds and garden pests on their toes.

We had so much fun making these recycled plastic plant markers. This is a great child-friendly garden activity and later it will be exciting to set them out in the garden.