Plastic Spoon Garden Markers are a simple, sustainable way to keep your garden or flower beds organized while adding character.

The ideas are endless for repurposing recycled materials in the garden, see our bottle cap flower or recycled key garden markers for more ideas!

Plastic Spoon Garden Markers

One of my favorite ways to express my creativity is in the herb garden. I have this large brick planter outside my door where every year I plant herbs and other plants, mostly for a toad who takes up residence there. I mean sure, I use the herbs, but there’s something about that toad choosing my herb garden out of all the other places he could have gone, and coming back each year that makes me happy.

Besides, he keeps all the bugs off my plants so I have fabulous organic herbs that I use all summer long.

In fact, this spring was a weird one. The weather was cold and really, we didn’t see any true spring weather until late May and early June. In fact, this summer has been wonderfully cool with temps in the 70’s for most of June and July. It’s been beautiful!

Anyway, my point is that I really hadn’t planted anything when spring hit and I came out one day to find my toad friend sitting there in the empty planter.

That day I went to the hardware store and bought some thyme, parsley, oregano and anything else I could find.

My chives had come back from the year before as had my lemon balm plant, so it was time to fill up the planter.

It wasn’t long before I realized that there were two toads in the garden this year. I love that my garden is worthy of their summer stay and hope to see them for years to come!

I gave these garden markers to my good friend Debra. She has an amazing outdoor wonderland of plants and garden ornaments. You probably remember her watering can that pours crystals! You can also see a variety of her other garden ornaments on that post as well.

For these plastic spoon garden markers, I used Americana Multi-Surface Satin paint which is designed to adhere to plastic. It does not require priming or sealing. There are other multi-surface paints on the market as well. It’s also possible to use regular acrylic paints and an outdoor sealer, but multi-surface paint is formulated to work on plastic so that’s your best bet.

If you’re curious about other plastic items you can paint, read my tips for painting on plastic.

You will need the following supplies:

• 4 plastic spoons
• sandpaper
• paintbrush
• toothpick
• micron fine point black art pen

Americana Multi-Surface Paint:

• Sky Blue
• Melonball
• Chick
• Peach Silk
• Overcast
• Bittersweet

Sand each spoon to knock off the shine.

Paint each spoon with a thin coat of paint, leaving the bottom 2-inches of the handle unpainted. This is where the spoon will go into the ground.

When dry, paint a second coat and allow to dry completely.

Use micron art pen to write herb names on the spoons.

Use a toothpick to dot on designs using the gray and brown paints.

Let these dry for a full 48 hours before exposing to the outdoor elements.

I hope you enjoyed this project as much as I did making it!

More garden crafts

If you liked this, you might also like my other garden crafts. I’ve also hand-picked a few of my favorites for you below. Thanks for visiting!

Recycled Plastic Lid Windchime

Painted Rock Garden Markers

Recycled Key Markers

Herb Garden Sign

Print Project

4.50 from 2 votes

Plastic Spoon Garden Markers

Plastic Spoon Garden Markers are a simple, sustainable way to keep your garden or flower beds organized while adding character!

Prep Time30 mins

Crafting Time6 hrs

Total Time6 hrs 30 mins

Supplies

• 4 plastic spoons
• Multi Surface paint: light blue light green, light yellow, peach/melon, gray, brown
• Tools: sandpaper paintbrush, toothpick, micron fine point black art pen

Instructions

• Sand each spoon to knock off the shine.
• Paint each spoon with a thin coat of paint, leaving the bottom 2-inches of the handle unpainted. This is where the spoon will go into the ground.
• When dry, paint a second coat and allow to dry completely.
• Use micron art pen to write herb names on the spoons.
• Use a toothpick to dot on designs using the gray and brown paints.
• Let these dry for a full 48 hours before exposing to the outdoor elements.

This post originally appeared here on Jul 21, 2014.