Plant labels

I'm too cheap to buy the pre-made ones, so I was scratching my head over the cheapest, easiest way to make my own.  I was thinking wood because... well, because.

Then I stepped back and started over.  What do they need to be/do?  (1) Durable and waterproof (2) Easy to read and write on (3) easy to poke in the soil.

For some reason I was eyeing 2-liter soft drink bottles (I tend to have way too many of those around for some reason I won't get into...) then I opened my fridge and the light went on... okay, yeah, the fridge light too.  

Milk!  Those plastic milk jugs are made from not too thin, white, transluscent plastic that's slightly rough.  All that's required is washing one out (drink the milk first, don't waste it!), grabbing a scissors and snipping away.  A fine-point Sharpie writes on the plastic perfectly.

I'm sure someone else has done this, but I had not found the hack elsewhere.  Maybe some here can benefit.

I ran out of milk jug (temporarily) since the first was a mere quart jug, so had to cut up a top to a yoghurt container which worked fine also.  It's had some distracting print on one side, but the inside what white.  Milk jugs are the best so far.

I also use those odd sticks that sometimes come in chinese food. Put a tape label on them, and there you go. Or chopsticks, those work too

If you need them to last the whole season or longer, you can make them from recycled cans.  

Edible Acres has a tutorial on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPS5W_h_5jY

I also buy used venetian blinds really cheaply from the thrift store and cut them into labels.  One set of blinds makes hundreds of labels.  

I've done this before, but seemed like no matter what I wrote with it didn't last the season legibly. Using a crayon, believe it or not, worked better because the wax doesn't wash away or degrade as easily in sunlight. And of course they make a more professional wax marking stick that would probably last even longer.

Mini blinds are definitely a good source of labels. I've also used leftover plastic spoons & knives as plant labels.
Instead of a sharpie, which will quickly fade, I use pencil on my labels. It lasts for years; sometimes longer than the actual label lasts.