Not me!

The best ones that I have used are made of heavy galvanized wire, with a zinc or copper strip stretched between the wires, and held at an angle, like a sign, at the top. You can write on the strip with a sharpie, for temporary labeling, or you can lay the strip on a piece of cardboard, and write on it with a ballpoint pen, which leaves a permanent impression. The larger size has legs about 38 cm long, which can go deep enough to frustrate any cat or bird. Unfortunately, I know from personal experience how strong and ingenious fools can be! : )

Thanks to you both.
OB - that was a good honest answer!
T - labels on long legs that go deep into the soil seem like a really good idea. I've never seen these, but I will certainly look out for them.

Trouble is I do not want to see the labels in the garden, I only want to know what the plants is. So I plant them with the label hidden deep in the soil and then the plant grows over the label and the only way to find it is to dig up the plant.
If one was properly organdised one could make a map of where one planted things. Yeah, and watch out for flying pigs!

Bulba writes on beach pebbles or bits of slate and puts a varnish across the top - take a look at my latest blog.

Yes, MG, I saw that and liked it. A shard of slate stuck in the ground would be too heavy for blackbirds to shift, but very little seems to deter the cat, who is very keen on digging. I suppose that's the price I pay for having lots of plants packed into a small garden.

OB - oh yes, the garden map idea is often on my mind - as often as I never get round to it! Lots of flying pigs here!

Thanks to you both.

i have some 'maps' but as plants grow and spread in a non uniform manner the 'maps' become obsolete. I draw them in pencil so they can be rubbed out.

I am thinking of BA's pebble method as the best option too.

If you look at Moongrower's last blog, last Thursday, you will see a clump of bulbs with our labeling system. The plant name is written on a smooth pebble and then varnished with a waterprrof varnish or laquer. We are experimenting with other stone types and slices of slate.
I seem to get credit for this idea but I picked it up from GoY just after we joined. Sorry I cannot remember and acknowledge the original inventor.

Saw the pebble idea on MG's blog and have to give it serious thought - particularly where bulbs are - I've lot count how many I've stuck the trowel through!!

When we moved here and started with a blank canvas we knew we wanted to grow vegetables as well as flowers. I had an A4 ring-bound lined book that I hadn't used, so we decided it would be our 'garden log.' Each year since 2007 I have drawn a 'map' of the garden, labelling each bed by a letter and each flower plant by a number. I then write down when veggie seeds were planted, when germinated, any excess weather, how they performed and when harvested. As I add flower plants I mark them by number and also keep a log of what they are and how they performed, following up each year's plant logs with suggestions for next year. Therefore if, when coming across something I'm not sure of, I just refer to my 'Captain's log' and the relevant stardate. (No - I'm NOT a Trekkie!!) Works for me as birds and the weather dispense with any labels I've tried.

This has been really helpful, thank you, all.
Yes, Bulba, I like the slate or pebble idea and will certainly give that a try. Apart from anything else it will look more natural than white plastic labels.
Scottish - are you going to try it, too? And oh, I recognise the spade-through-the-bulb problem only too well! Another reason to get the labelling sorted.
Nariz - there is no excuse for me not getting organised and making a map. It's not even a big garden! Must try to get my act together on this one after everything is up and I know what's what. Your solution is impressive. A friend of mine does this, too, so, unlike me, always knows what her 'brown clumps' are.

Nariz, that is a level of organisation I could only dream of!

Me too!. Mind I have the excuse that the garden is quite big and we do have a lorra plants. Well that's my excuse anyway!

Bulba catalogued our Rhodos recently - I think it was 45! So the chances of a map naming every plant are pretty slim :-)

Oji I might just give it a go with the bulbs - will need to take a wee trip down to the beach to see if I can get some light coloured small pebbles. I'll wait til my neices are here to stay and take them down - they will like that!
Nariz...I could never be that organised!!
MG - the fact that he has catalogued is great :)

Yes it is!

That's a good idea, Scottish. If they are old enough, you could get them to write them out for you, too! Or do the varnish. Clear nail polish, maybe?
MG - 45 rhodos! That would fill my garden. I've squeezed 4 in, however, because I like them so much.

Hadn't thought of that...will get the older one to write them for me - she's quite a neat little writer too! I haven't given much though to the varnish yet - maybe watered down PVA - will need to seek technical advice - hopefully Bulba will see this and advise :)))

I think there are probably more than 45 Ojib.! Bulba was trying to ID them all - without success!

I'm not normally that organised, but I know that I need to know what I'm about to stand on or dig up, so I'm just protecting my plants from ME!

Bulba. sees everything, Scottish, so mind what you get up to! You will need to use an outdoor varnish, I used a small pot of yacht varnish. I have also used a car laquer with good effect. Trouble with the laquer is that it is an aerosol but you don't have to keep washing the brush every time you use it.

Ah, car lacquer - now I think there is a couple of tins of that in the shed belonging to 'boy racer' son!! I may have too claim that :))
Thank you Bulba - best mind my p's and q's then :)

Bulba sees what MG points out to him :-)

???????????

There you go...

:o)))

I don't doubt you MG :))))

I'm rolling in the aisles here. What an amusing but helpful blog. I do like all the ideas but I come unstuck when it comes to putting them in to practise. I almost managed Nariz idea using an Excel spreadsheet last year. But only for my beloved potatoes. If I was starting from scratch with nothing in the garden I could draw a map etc. but I tried it with the island bed in the lawn which I planted up last autumn and already I am struggling to remember what is where. Now where did I put that map? I just keep my fingers crossed that any bulb given the slicing treatment won't die. I do keep a log of every new plant in My Pictures. I write on the label where I plant them then scan it in to the appropriate file.

Seems we are all pretty much the same...it starts off good - then kinda falls by the wayside!! I draw wee maps too and then mislay them or they get put out by someone (mother - don't tell her I said this - someone else would only get the blame) :)
I've had the girls here every weekend since and I still haven't managed to get down to the beach at SQ for some pebbles.....one day!!!!
I've spent the last 2 days trying to remember where I moved a Hosta - eventually I had to look back at my old pictures for a clue!! No sign of her there so I'll just have to wait :)

I am promising myself for now, at least, that this is the year I get it sorted. We'll see.......
Last year I sent a photo of a growing plant to a friend hoping for ID because I could not for the life of me work out what it was. She texted back - 'Well, it's definitely ..... a plant.'

Do you know Oji...sometimes when I look at the garden questions - and they ask what is this - I am tempted to say the same....that is sooooo wrong :)
Not that it matters anyway because I very rarely know what it is except that it is a plant :)