I’ve been whiling away part of the winter planning my Spring garden and whittling these plant markers.

If you think you might like to make some, here’s what I did.

Find a stick.  Any stick will do, from the size of a fat kindergarten pencil to about an inch in diameter is about right.  I cut mine about a foot long, to make them harder for the tinies to pull out of the ground.  Wishful thinking, I know.  They move a full size mattress and box springs clear across the room regularly.  They could pull these out just looking at them.

Make yours as long or as short as you want.

Saw a segment of branch at an angle with a handsaw or pruners, then whittle it at more of an angle, making a larger surface area to stamp on.

Round over the end to make it less weapon-like.

Get out your stamps and your seed list.  I used a simple typewriter font set.  You could also just write the name with a Sharpie.

And stamp (or write) the variety name on the stick.

Optional: I dip the end with the stamp in a can of spar varnish and let dry.  It takes about two days for the varnish to dry completely.

Then get out there and plant spring peas.