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Greengirls love garden gloves

Posted on September 13th, 2007 – 11:28 AM
By Jaime Chismar

When it comes to gardening gloves, leather and cotton are sooo 20th century. This season, cyborg inspired styles and synthetics are all the rage. But are hi-tech materials worth the high price?

Amy Stewart of Garden Rant reviewed the latest and greatest in garden gloves. She’s hard on her hands, and her gloves rarely last longer than a year. (What do they grow out there in Zone 9, anyway?)

I’m a flake and often loose a pair (or two) of West County gloves during the growing season. At $30 a pop, it’s heartbreaking to loose a hand. Often I’m weeding with mismatched gloves, or running around the yard wearing only one.

What gloves do you love? What ones have brought you nothing but disappointment? With season clearance sales right around the corner, now is a good time to share your garden glove reviews and score an expensive pair on the cheap.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 13th, 2007 at 11:28 am and is filed under Tools, gloves, rain barrels + more. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

10 Responses to "Greengirls love garden gloves"

jeff says:

September 13th, 2007 at 1:28 pm

I just get the Craftsman Mechanics Gloves. They are just rebranded Mechanix gloves but they are way cheaper at $13. I’m sure I don’t garden as much as most on here but I use them for raking, digging, automotive work, and light construction too.

deb w says:

September 13th, 2007 at 1:55 pm

I love the Rugged Wear that are sold at Menards. They are a combo of faux swede and nylon woven that can be washed in the good old washer when they get nasty. I finally wore out my first work pair after 4 years of cleaning boilers, tightening stand pipes, etc.
At 8 bucks it’s a real good deal and they come in three sizes, girly colors and good old black for the guys.

deb w says:

September 13th, 2007 at 1:57 pm

Oops, should be SUEDE, not the skin of a nordic person!

Chris says:

September 13th, 2007 at 2:11 pm

I agree with the Menards route. I buy the printed cotton ones, because if I loose one, no tears shed at the expense.

Connie Nelson says:

September 13th, 2007 at 5:28 pm

I haven’t found a pair of gloves that work for me for very long. I like the cotton ones that have rubber-tipped fingers and palms, but they get full of dirt and don’t clean up well (unlike me!). I usually end up taking off my garden gloves halfway through a round of gardening. I’m not all that crazy about dirt under my fingernails — like many garden nuts — but I can work faster ungloved.

Jaime Chismar says:

September 13th, 2007 at 5:34 pm

You wear gloves made of SWEDES? Oh Deb… How could you?

The West County gloves can handle a run run through the washer. Plus, they have velco wrist straps that keep dirt out my fingers.

deb w says:

September 14th, 2007 at 7:06 am

Connie, I douldn’t find a pair of gloves that worked as well as my hands either until I found some that were thin enough for all but the tiny seed job. I found that the key for me was some that actually fit and were thin enough to feel what I am doing. My hands still get muddy when I do the wet stuff but I don’t have to wear off the skin to get my hands presentable enough to look like I actually cleaned up.
Cotton didn’t work for me, I always kept losing the right glove and had a collection of mismatched lefts. I velcro the wrist band of mine to the tool bin handle and then I usually know where they are (brain bubble moments excluded).

Peter Hoh says:

September 14th, 2007 at 7:49 am

Deb, I like the really thin gloves, too. Like you, I find that my hands still get dirty, especially when I’m dividing and transplanting. Thick gloves just aren’t useful for those tasks.

Especially in the cooler months, I get cracked fingertips if I’m working my hands in the soil for hours on end, even if I’m wearing good gloves.

I’ve found that it helps if I put on disposable food service gloves before I put on my gardening gloves. This may sound goofy, but it works for me.

Judybusy says:

September 14th, 2007 at 2:35 pm

I bought a pair of fancy gloves from Smith and Hawken and they lasted one season, getting a hole in a seam. This spring, I got some leather gloves at the hardward store. They’ve held up great, and were $25 less!

Deb W, this Norwegian-descended gardener thought your typo was really funny!

laura says:

October 2nd, 2007 at 2:01 pm

i just buy the cheapy cotton gloves by the handful. that way i always have extra pairs for if i havent gotten around to washing the dirty ones yet, and i dont feel bad when they fall apart or if i lose one. i’ve never found any expensive gloves that lasted, so i wont waste the money on them.

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