Easy DIY Garden Markers

Super cute and easy to make, these DIY polymer clay garden markers are a durable way to label your herb garden and other plants.

With the coming of spring, we’ve been out in the garden more lately. We’ve already planted some seeds in newspaper pots for our vegetable garden and have also cleaned up our herb garden.

During the cleanup process, I pruned some herbs that were out of control. I also made room for some new herbs to plant. I’ve been trying to be strategic about what and where I plant it so that I can have a more sustainable, eco-friendly garden.

As a way to help identify the different herbs, I decided to make some cute garden markers. I guess I already know which ones are which, but I thought that it would be a good learning experience for my son. Plus, I just like the way the garden markers look in the garden.

Fun ways to make garden markers

I’ve made garden markers several ways in the past. I’ve used strips of slate-like tiles to mark some plants. (You can temporarily write on them with chalk or chalk markers, or use opaque metallic markers for something more permanent.)

I’ve also marked them by writing on aluminum salvaged from cans. When you press on the aluminum with a pencil, it embosses the metal, leaving a more permanent marking.

The markers I’m going to show you how to make today, though, have been my favorite so far.

Polymer clay markers

These DIY garden markers use polymer clay. While polymer clay isn’t food safe, we are only using small bits of clay for these markers. The clay doesn’t go directly into the soil, so I don’t have a problem using it in this way.

If you have access to a terra cotta clay and a kiln to fire your tags, you could make some “greener” tags. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to a kiln, so I used what I could. 🙂 I will say that these hold up really well in the garden over time.

The garden markers shown in the photos have been in my garden for 3 years now, and they look pretty much the same way they did when I first made them.

Materials

To make these garden markers, we need 2 main materials. First, we use the polymer clay to make the labels themselves. We then use wire to make the stakes from which to hang the clay handles.

• Metal skewers for kebabs or other metal wire (with a diameter of around 3-4mm)
• Polymer clay
• Rolling pin
• Parchment or wax paper
• A toothpick or bamboo skewer for writing on the clay
• An oval cookie cutter, knife, or other round/oval recipient to use as a cutter.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to the temperature setting for your particular polymer clay. FIMO recommends a temperature of 110°C/230°F. Sculpey recommends 265-275ºF (130-135ºC).

Prepare the clay disks

Knead the clay to soften it and make it workable. For me, this is (surprisingly) the hardest part. To get it more pliable, I rolled it out with a rolling pin between layers of parchment paper. Once it was rolled out into thinner pieces, it was easier to manipulate the clay.

Once the clay is workable, roll it into a thin sheet. I made mine around 4mm thick.

Cut the clay into round or oval shapes. While you can use a knife, I find that the easiest way to get smooth edges is to use some sort of cookie cutter. If you don’t have the right shaped cookie cutter, you can try using items you have around the house. I used the lid of a small stick deodorant container for some of my tags.

I later made my own cookie cutter by forming an oval from a strip of aluminum cut from a beverage can. Both types of improvised cookie cutters worked well.

Using a toothpick or a skewer with a pointed tip, write the names of the plants in the clay. (If you’re really fancy, use clay or fondant modeling tools.)

Work little by little, removing any clay that comes off onto the point as you write. I find it easier to lightly scratch in the name, and then clean it up by passing over the letters once again. (If you have small rubber stamp letters, you can stamp the words into the clay instead.)

Using the point of the skewer, make a hole in the top of the clay oval for hanging the markers once they are ready.

Bake the clay disks in the oven for the amount of time specified for your particular polymer clay. (Usually 15-30 minutes.)

Prepare the wire hangers

To make wire stakes for hanging the clay disks, I repurposed the metal skewers that came with some pre-prepared kebabs from our butcher. They were actually perfect for this purpose because the end meant to be the handle of the skewers was coiled in a way that was perfect for hanging the clay disks.

If you don’t have skewers like mine, you can use metal wire with a diameter of around 3-4mm and cut it into sections of around 10-12 inches (25-30cm). Using pliers, carefully coil one end over in such a way that you can hang your clay disks on the wire. (See photo below.) Leave the other end straight for sticking into the soil.

Assembling the garden markers

Once the clay disks have finished cooking and have cooled, you can carefully hang them on the wires.

If the hole is a little small you should be able to make it slightly bigger with the point of a scissors or something similar. I kept mine slightly tight so that the tags don’t fall off the wire. That said, I’ve been using some of these for several years now and they have held up really well, and I haven’t lost any disks.

When ready, jab the other end of the wire into the soil near the plants you want to mark. Easy as that!

Printable tutorial

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Do you make your own garden markers? I’d love to hear your great ideas for organizing your garden!

This post was originally published on May 17, 2017. It was rewritten and published in April of 2020.