Put a Cork In It

I'm going to make so much caprese this summer!

Finally, I can stop feeling guilty about mentioning the amazing Southern California weather to my friends and family in the Midwest.  Spring’s in town!  Sweet words for the green thumbs among us, or even the wannabes, like me.  Keeping plants alive and thriving does not come naturally to me, but that doesn’t stop me from trying!  When spring rolls around, I can’t buy just one plant or seed packet at the garden center … my head fills with dreams of creating salads entirely from homegrown veggies, and suddenly I wake up with $40 worth of seedlings and bags of soil in my trunk.

Thankfully I don’t have to spend a dime on plant markers, because I figured out a way to make cute ones out of stuff I had on hand: wine corks and bamboo skewers!   No more trying to remember which seeds I planted where … these guys are functional and keep the garden looking great!  (Plus, if you have corks left over, you can use them to make these wine charms!)

What you need:
wine corks
bamboo skewers
drill and drillbit about the size of your skewers
finepoint permanent marker
plant trimmer

Labeled

1. First, write out your plant names on each cork.  I started out with a regular fat Sharpie, and the results were a bit sad.  Then I used a finer Sharpie, and the results were only slightly less sad, because guess what? I have terrible handwriting!

Drill, baby, drill

2. Carefully drill into the bottom of each cork–make sure to drill directly into the center of the cork so you don’t drill out the side into your hand!  I drilled a little over an inch deep into mine, or about the length of the corkscrew part of the bit.

Trimmed down

3. If you’ll be using these for potted plants, trim the bamboo skewers to a length that will fit using a pair of plant trimmers.

Wiggle room

4. Insert the end of the skewer into the hole you drilled–it should be a tight fit, so you’ll need to twist and push the cork onto the skewer so that it goes all the way in.

Garden party

5. That’s it! Your seeds and plants are all name-tagged up and ready to go! Now all you have to do is keep them alive …

Tomato, tomahto

Minty fresh