Remove the cardboard tube. Use the box knife to slit each end of the cardboard tube, and the hanger ends should slip out of the tube without much fuss. I give these cardboard tubes to my kids to whack each other with, and when they end up making each other cry I take them away and recycle them.
Straighten the top of the hanger. Using pliers, it takes just a few seconds to straighten the top of the hanger. This is the part that you’ll put in the ground, so you want it to be nice and straight.
Bend the two arms of the hanger to your liking. There should already be one hook at the end of each arm, so you’re partially done already. I like to use my needlenose pliers to put a couple more crooks in the wire, or sometimes even a spiral, so that the plant marker can’t work its way off the hook if it’s a windy day or a cat bats at it.
Plant it! If your ground is soft, you may just be able to press the base in, but I have my kiddo helping me in these photos, and kiddos love tools, so she’s first pounding a giant nail into the ground, then pulling it out and setting each hanger in the hole made by the nail.
Tomorrow, I’ll show you how I make the plant markers to hang from these little shepherd’s hooks. I use found objects, little trinkets, and jewelry wire, and I must warn you:
It’s a lot of fun!
This is so cute! I usually just put the plastic plant tags in the ground with my plants, and a month later, they’re broken or gone.
As I was planting some lettuce last week, I ran across one of these — http://craftingagreenworld.com/2009/03/31/recycle-vinyl-blinds-into-plant-markers-another-quickie-tutorial/ –that I had put in four years ago! I actually could still read it, but I clearly HAD lost it. It’s above ground all the way for me, now.