When’s the best time of year to start a garden?
Some say once the snow has completely melted. Others claim that tiny pink buds need to be popping from cherry blossom trees before you start digging into the earth, and a few don’t even pay attention to the seasons and start their own gardens indoors.
Yet, despite what time of year you decide to plant some seeds and all of the harvest-inducing hacks there are out there, in order to have a horticultural triumph, you need to be aware of some essential gardening basics.
You need to be aware of your soil type, hardiness zone, and whether the seeds you’re planting need full or partial light. Also, some plants are higher maintenance than others, and unless you’re dealing with aromatic herbs, it may be hard to distinguish a carrot from a beat or a radish when you’re looking at them from above the ground.
It’s important to know where everything in your garden is as your leafy sprouts begin growing. Imgur user tifheyse has figured out a brilliant way of doing this using old coke cans and flipping them into something as fresh as homegrown veggies plucked from your garden…
First you need some materials. What you’ll need is:
Cut both ends off of the can, using gloves to avoid cutting yourself on the jagged edges.
Trim the rough edges so it fits into the punch easier.
Slip the metal into the punch.
Punch out a shape.
Then punch another one until you’ve utilized the entire can.
Punch a hole into the top of each aluminum shape.
Take out any of the letters you want and then punch their imprint into the aluminum.
Once you finish your imprint, it should look like this.
Next, color in each letter with a Sharpie.
Repeat this step with every other label you’ve imprinted.
Once you have all your labels with a colored-in imprint, spray each with alcohol.
After a few seconds, wipe each with a baby wipe or paper towel.
Next, cut wire into 12" strips.
Use your pliers to make a hook in each piece of wire, then place your labels in the hook and close the loop.
Once all your labels are attached to wire, you can do the fun part.
Labeling in each plant in your garden!
It’s a great way to separate your patio herbs from something that needs more light.
Zucchini, squash, corn, chamomile, and strawberries that need more light, but look similar while sprouting, are now also easily identified.
It’s a nifty trick for someone who not only likes to grow their own produce, but likes to produce solutions for their own problems.
Please SHARE if you like seeing “trash” transform into treasure!
