Help With Gardening Gloves (flower, palms, grass, weeds)

[Lodestar]

It was so lovely in Southern MN today that I went out to weed my rock garden. There's something so satisfying to me about weeding by hand and it keeps me flexible while giving me an honest excuse to go out and sit in the sun.

My plan didn't last long when I discovered that all the gardening gloves I could find had holes in the index fingers. Think I spent longer getting my fingernails clean again than I had spent outside!

I distinctly remember a conversation here about a good, sturdy gardening glove that people were using and now I wish I'd paid more attention. A search back through the threads to 2012 didn't help me out.

Can you help me? I've liked using the ones that are stretchy and have the rubber coating on them as it's easier to grasp the plants with something a little more tight fitting. But it doesn't take long for me to wear a hole through the most used fingers of those.

Thanks in advance.

[Mattie]

I used to spend quite a bit on gardening gloves. Then I found some at Target for $1.00/pair. They look like yellow rubber dish gloves, but they are a lighter weight, and have white palms. Since my goal is only to keep my hands reasonably clean, they do the job.

[Ellwood]

My spouse likes the ones she gets at Costco, six pairs for $10. Palm and underside of fingers are rubberized, tops are material. Rarely gets holes in them. Usually throws them out because they look so bad.

[nuts2uiam]

Do you have long nails? IF so that is the main problem, not the gloves.

[no kudzu]

I have gloves for different jobs but really like the coated-in-rubber ones too. I keep my nails trimmed but I also stuff part of a cotton ball in the fingertips so I don't poke through the ends. Sometimes I even soak the cottonballs in baby oil to give my cuticles a nice massage.

[Lodestar]

Oh, great ideas, all. Thanks.

I guess I'm busted for having long fingernails. Though I usually keep them shorter in the summer just for the gardening reason. Tonight I filed them down in preparation.

Some of the problem is that part of the rock garden is covered in gravelly-type stones and trying to dig among them is also rough on the gloves. Really is tough on the fingers, too.

Never did think of the cottonball idea. I'm willing to try that also and hope it won't interfere with my grasping abilities.

The rubber ones at Walmart might be the right way to go. Never do like it when the gloves get soggy.

And at six pair for $10. at Costco I could afford to go through them like potato chips, I suppose.

I'm still thinking someone mentioned a heavy-duty pair maybe last summer sometime. Hopefully they'll come along and tell me what they were. Most of the heavy ones we've got around here my husband uses and they are just to bulky for me.

I've got my work cut out for me. When we moved in here thirty-some years ago a few stray ox eye daisies used to pop up in the grass and one year I dug a couple out and put them in the flower bed. Never know where they're going to take a notion to come up and this year it looks like they took over the rock garden.

[no kudzu]

Originally Posted by Lodestar

Never did think of the cottonball idea. I'm willing to try that also and hope it won't interfere with my grasping abilities.

We grasp with our finger pads, not with the ends so if you don't put too much cotton in the ends it shouldn't interfere.

Also try using a tool to loosen the weeds with your left hand and then pull with your right.

[PeachSalsa]

Originally Posted by no kudzu

We grasp with our finger pads, not with the ends so if you don't put too much cotton in the ends it shouldn't interfere.

Also try using a tool to loosen the weeds with your left hand and then pull with your right.

I am right handed, so can I use a tool with my right hand and then pull with my left?





I garden a lot, and I find that I cannot stand to wear gloves. I have short nails year round, and just scrub well once I'm done.

[Linda_d]

Originally Posted by Ellwood

My spouse likes the ones she gets at Costco, six pairs for $10. Palm and underside of fingers are rubberized, tops are material. Rarely gets holes in them. Usually throws them out because they look so bad.

I use these for all types of gardening/yard work unless I'm doing something with stones or bricks when I get out the "heavy duty" leather ones. These light weight gloves are cooler, they keep your hands clean, and you can pick up all kinds of stuff you would care to touch bare-handed. The rubber also means no splinters.

They're cheap enough that if they get holes or get lost, oh well ...

[dens]

Another vote for the 6 pair pack at Costco....works well