Handyman Managing editor and keen cook Lee Dashiell likes to add lots of herbs to his summer kitchen garden.
‘This year I planted sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano and tarragon and in weeks the herbs had grown enough for me to start tip-pruning them,’ says Lee.
‘But I hadn’t kept the plant tags that came with the herbs, making it easy to forget which was tarragon and which was oregano.’
To label the herbs, Lee used 300mm high garden edging stakes to made rustic timber signs for each one.
‘I drew the letters on the stakes in pencil and carved them using a rotary tool. Changing attachments for different parts of the letters allowed me to carve the intricate areas more accurately.
‘A light sand smoothed out the gouges then I painted the letters with clear exterior varnish for a gloss finish on the rough-hewn background.’
For a no-carve method, write the letters on the stake then apply gloss exterior varnish, leaving the herb name raw