Plant Markers for Gardens

Make these Easy DIY Garden Markers using some scrap wood, screws, twine, and a little paint!!! This project can be completed in just a few hours, including dry time for the paint, and will be a great and practical addition to your garden!

It’s that time of year again!! Planting my garden each Spring is one of my favorite activities!! Hey guys, it’s Sara from Twelve on Main. It’s still too early to plant where I live, so I decided to get a jump start on making these Easy DIY Garden Markers! They are such a fun way to accessorize your garden while being functional at the same time!

In past years we have used pieces of sticks, rocks, and other random items to mark where we have planted. The designer in me always cringes. These easy garden plant markers were really quick to make and the fit that esthetic that I love. You could even make mini versions for your Herb Gardens!

If you have time, consider making these super cute DIY Garden Stones or Potting Bench too!

HOW TO MAKE DIY WOODEN GARDEN MARKERS

Items Needed:

*These materials can be adjusted to fit whatever size you want to make.

• 14″ long – 1″ x 1″ inch sticks  (you can use shorter or longer ones as you prefer)
• ¼″ – ½″ Plywood cut approx 3″ long by 8″ wide (Feel free to adjust the size to fit your preference. I decided on this size, because that is what worked with the scrap pieces of plywood I had on hand!)
• Twine
• Screws
• Screwdriver
• Paint

Directions:

I started off by gathering my materials for the project and making the cuts for the 1″x1″ sticks and plywood. I chose to make my 1″x1″ sticks 14″ long and my ½″ plywood 3″x8″. This is totally a personal preference, so feel free to adjust the size of your garden market to fit the look you’re going for.

If you’re making Garden Row Markers or a marker for a large area where everything planted is the same, I would consider making them bigger too!

After all my cuts were made, I assembled the garden markers by screwing the 1″x1″ stick to the piece of plywood using a 1″ screw. I suggest pre-drilling holes through the 1″x1″s but did test making one without pre-drilling and it worked fine. If you don’t pre-drill, I would just make sure that you have enough wood to be okay if a board or two splits. When assembling, I offset the 1″x1″ piece about 1.5″ from the side of the plywood. Don’t worry about the screw showing, it will be hidden under the twine.

Once the 1″x1″ piece is secured to the piece of plywood, you can decide what you want to do with it. I decided to paint them white, because, well come on, a little white chippy goodness is always a plus in my book. I also decided to do this so that they will stand out a little bit more. Once the plants matured, I didn’t want them to disappear in all that growth!

After the paint was dry, I tied my twine at an angle around the intersection of the stick and sign. I wrapped it 5 times one way and then 5 times the opposite way, creating an X.

I hand-painted the different vegetable names onto the signs with black craft paint. If you’re not comfortable hand painting the words, then you could use your Cricut or Silhouette to make vinyl signs or stencils.

And Voila! I am so happy with how they turned out!

GARDEN MARKER SIGN IDEAS

There are so many different things you could do to make these your own.

• Paint them with chalk paint and use chalk to write the names on.
• Leave them raw wood and stencil the words in any color you want.
• Paint little vegetables on them instead of using words.
• Make them all different heights to add interest.
• You can make them larger, or smaller, depending on the size of your garden. The basic concept will be the same.

I love the white, raw wood, and black lettering. It fits in perfectly with my interior and exterior home decor. Now that they are all ready, I cannot wait to use them in my garden. It’s little touches like these that will set you apart from everyone else and bring a little character to an otherwise generic garden.

Thanks for spending a little time with me today!  If you like this post, definitely check out some other ones of mine:

• Thrift Store Farmhouse Bowl
• DIY Wire Laundry Baskets

Have a great day! Sarah from Twelve on Main!

*Post originally published in 2016 and has been updated with improved instructions!