Avant Gardener: Garden Gloves Protect Hands

  • Kyle Valentini
  • January 16, 2011
  • 269
                        
I’m not doing much actual gardening right now. I am planning ahead, however. Only two seed catalogues have arrived and one is a favorite. It’s a non-profit that offers seeds that my grandparents might have grown. Open pollinated heirloom seeds produce food that tastes good, is high in nutrition and keeps small farmers in business. I gaze out the window to see a snow-covered landscape and long for winter to pass. Occasional trips to the nursery have resulted in purchases of peat pots and the ingredients that will make up my soilless seed starting mix. I have returned home with new gardening gloves as well. I always buy several pairs of gloves. Different gloves are useful depending on the job you are doing. The flower patterned garden gloves you seeing hanging in neat little rows in the houseplant aisle at the drug store are useless to anyone who gardens outdoors. They will last you about fifteen minutes in a real garden and should be left in neat little rows in the houseplant aisle of the drug store. If you are worried about your manicure getting ruined while you garden, you should reevaluate your priorities and probably shouldn’t be gardening to begin with. People with manicures should purchase food and flowers from people with dirt under their nails. Garden gloves do prevent some dirt from getting on your hands but more importantly they can prevent cuts, scratches, insect bites and even infection. The best gloves for the gardener should fit properly. Ill-fitting gloves can make a task harder than it needs to be. Try gloves on before buying them. Garden gloves made from leather are great for tasks like digging with shovels, raking, hoeing and moving big rocks around. Leather gloves take on the shape of the gardener’s hands as the natural oil present in our skin is absorbed into the leather. Cow skin is less expensive but does not last as long nor wear as comfortably as garden gloves made from goat skin. Goat skin is soft and strong. A good pair of goat skin garden gloves might last you two summers if properly cared for. Canvas garden gloves are nice for light tasks like transplanting seedlings, mulching, mowing and bird feeder filling. Even well constructed canvas gloves will tear if they are worn when heavy tasks are attempted. Cotton gloves are great if you are changing a tire on your tractor but relatively useless in the garden. They never seem to fit tightly enough and dirt gets in them. If left on a shelf in the barn or garage mice like to make nests in them. I could never understand why they chew holes in the finger tips when the bottoms have large stretched out openings that would accommodate even the chubbiest field mouse. In the last few years I have been seeing cloth gloves that have been dipped in rubber. While not completely waterproof these gloves are great for tasks that require non slip performance, like replacing a downspout or screwing the top back on a water barrel after replacing the screen. Hands tend to get very sweaty in these rubber-dipped gloves but a little sweat is helpful in keeping hands soft. I am not very fond of gloves specific to Rose gardening. They are big and bulky and their extended length always seems to get in the way. They remind me of the gloves you see large bird handlers wearing. It’s a rose bush, not a raptor. Wear good gloves and long sleeves instead. Gloves won’t prevent calluses altogether but they do help. Anyone who spends even a little time in the garden knows that some calluses on the hands are inevitable and even a benefit. Regardless of the type of gloves you prefer be certain to store them in the barn, garage or mudroom. If they get wet place them on a shovel or rake handle until they are dry. Having several pairs at the ready will insure you always have a pair when needed.


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