I know I should but I rarely do. Only when I have to deal with brambles, nettles or thorns will I wear gloves.
I do, have gone through more gloves in the past 15 years than I can count. I do not buy gardeners gloves, too flimsy, they might last about a week for me. I get mechanics black gloves at either Harbor Freight or Lowes. Many years I didn't wear gloves of any kind and was trying to get a dead shrub out of our Blacklands Prairie black clay that passes for soil in my yard, got something jammed up under a finger nail and had a heck of an infection that deformed by fingernail. I wear gloves now.
When i use compost i wear vinyl throwaway gloves, they don't last long. Have to wear them because it makes my hands black and can catch a virus or something from it, so they say to wear them.
@toni that sounds REALLY painful. I wear gloves as much as I can tolerate. I dislike how they feel but my skin gets SO dry otherwise. The skin on my hands gets to be like sandpaper. When my kids were in diapers & I was washing my hands everyone time i turned around, I'd get cracks in the skin of my fingertips. Very painful. I now use vasoline or Aquaphor on my hands, then stick them in my gloves. Lately I have been using a pair of leather gloves. Very sturdy. I agree with you @toni the typical gardening gloves last only about 1-2 weeks, if that. I'll check out those black gloves you mentioned.
I start out with gloves on, but something always seems to happen and I look down and my gloves are gone and my hands are filthy haha
Yes and yes. Surgical ones for potting compost and cheap gardening ones for general work. Otherwise my hands get very dry and cracked, even with barrier cream.
My general gloves are more or less a knitted glove that breathes but has the grip side palm and fingers coated in a tough and grippy rubber. I still have to be careful in the blackberries but other than that they are good. I think they are a form of mechanic glove I got at northern tool and equipment. Becky has taken them over so I need to get another pair.
Nettles are the worst thing with the gloves with knotted style backs and leatherish fronts. I use the kind of rubberised gloves which Refuse collectors in Britain wear for dealing with nettles and brambles.
Over here i would use rubber gloves that are made for washing up and cleaning for pulling up nettles.
I wear gloves for handling thorny or rough brush. I have a pair of goatskin gloves that are at least four years old and other than being extremely dirty, are as good as when I bought them. I also have a pair of the knitted back/rubberized front gloves that I use for rough weeding. For fine weeding I take off the gloves and have at it! If you can find a cream called "Udder Balm" it works wonders for dry, cracked skin. It was originally for curing udder chapping on milk cows, but farmers found it also worked on their hard-working hands. Most farm and ranch stores carry it, and some hardware stores, also. If I didn't use gloves occasionally, folks would call me "Stubby"!
Can get it from Amazon or eBay, has to come from Michigan so a lot of money for postage and packaging, but it sounds good. Thanks.
