Have you ever dreamt about having your dreamy garden and gardening with those gloves as the pro did? I imagined a lot of time. But in reality, not everyone is a fan of wearing gloves during gardening.
I was not a fan of Gardening Gloves; I like to get my hands dirty while gardening. Until I almost encountered a baby centipede in my potting mix, a common venomous reptile in my geological area. Initially, I thought it was an earthworm, but it was not. Luckily, I was not stung.
After that incident, I bought Gardening gloves the next day. Initially, it’s hard to use because it’s not giving balance and power as my bare hands. But after a few days, it became handy and to my surprise, I don’t have any dry palms or itches after gardening.
Some of you still have second thoughts and are confused about using gloves, but it is monetary to protect your hands and prevent you from getting hurt by some little reptile or venomous bugs. If you use organic potting, it’s obvious to encounter these kinds of bugs and reptiles at least once in a while. It indicates that the soil has some life in it.
Sometimes, apart from this reason, you might feel like some dryness, itchy or redness after Gardening. Inorganic or Organic gardening this might happen. Because we all are living so protective lives that do not allow us to encounter any bacteria, and chances to grow anti-bacterial in our bodies. It’s good to do Gardening and improve your natural strong immune system. You can use bare hands sometimes, like when you’re sure that you’re using organic gardening things.
You need to deal with synthetic fertilizers or pesticides or you should handle fully throned plants. At that time, you need to protect your hands. Instead of being afraid about these, you can protect your hands with some quality Gardening Gloves.
It’s overwhelming to look for Garden gloves on online because you can get dozens of material types, Price range, to the note most of the gloves are universal sized. Only kid’s gloves have sizes like age-based.
Every material has its pros and cons, and specific characteristics. You need to read further to know different glove materials insights and more. And identify which material suits your garden needs. The gloves material should be selected by what’s your major gardening work, and what type of plants you have.
If you’ve normal house plants then you can go with cotton material Gardening gloves. If you have a Cactus or any throned plant you need thorn-proof safety gloves. If you have a water garden then you should consider using waterproof gloves. For edible plant gardeners, I prefer gloves with sharp edges to pluck veggies, fruits and herbs.
TYPES OF GARDENING GLOVES AND THEIR PROS & CONS
There are different kinds of Gardening gloves available in market. But choosing the right one that fits your gardening needs with your budget needs little research. (You don’t need to do that research, because I’ve already done it and filtered it for you) Read further to find you’re perfect Gardening gloves.
Cotton Gloves
It’s best for simple gardens like house plants like ferns, pothos, monstera or any kind of foliage plants without thorns. Because it’s not that hardy and less protective against thorns. But it’s washable and breathable. If you need to use chemical-based products in your gardening or consistently need to encounter sharp objects it’s a big no for you. And one more thing is it’s sustainable but not a long-lasting one.
If you have just house plants with low maintenance you can go with Cotton gloves, because you don’t do that much gardening work and you don’t need to encounter water and sharp objects so it’s a yes for you.
Leather Gloves:
It’s a good option to consider if you’ve consistently worked between throned plants, sharp materials and synthetic products. Also provides a good grip over wet and slippery surfaces. But can’t expect support and grip like your bare hands. But still good grip and protect your hands against all garden odds.
Unlike Cotton Gloves it’s not breathable if you already have sweaty hands, you can’t use them for a longer time. And it’s a little more expensive than other Gloves and needs little care and maintenance.
Rubber or Nitrile Gloves:
This is one of the Gloves I’ve had. Waterproofed one so you can easily use it for water garden or any works related to water. Not breathable as cotton, but also not non-breathable as leather. And also, it’s an affordable choice. It has a good grip.
You can’t expect Leather protection against sharp objects, but still, you can use this to protect your hands against small throned plants, please note small throned not sharp objects or anything sharper. And you can use these while using chemicals, mixing soils, and potting. And it’s a low-maintenance. You need to store these Rubber or Nitrile Gloves in Shady and cold places. Because heat makes the glove get damaged and sticky.
Neoprene Gloves:
These Gloves are best friends if you consistently encounter chemicals and pesticides. Also, it’s available in lengthy sizes that protect not only your hand but also your forearms as well. And also waterproof not sweatproof. Little expensive as leather gloves and it’s not suitable for extremely rough surfaces.
Synthetic Gloves (Polyester and Spandex):
One of the Gloves I have is an affordable choice. Lightweight and handiness are plus. It’s not cotton-like breathable but Breathable you can consider this also. The added benefits are in this material you can get reinforced fingertips that help to pluck and light pruning while gardening. I usually use this for the weeding process it takes less time to weed in containers.
It’s not waterproof., not give that much protection against sharp objects but still it gives protection. Another con is it’s not as durable as Leather.
Disposable Gloves:
These kinds of gloves are inexpensive and less protective against sharp objects. But these Gloves are primarily used for chemical uses like applying fungicides and pesticides. I have a box of disposable Gloves always in my Garden storage for Applying fungicides and pesticides, cleaning bugs or infections from plants, and Repotting and rescuing root-rotted plants (the odour is heavier than you think).
Sometimes you need to isolate the bug-affected or infected plants at that time disposable gloves are preferable. You can use those Gloves while potting or doing plant treatment for that plant and dispose of the gloves after the process to protect other plants infected.
- These are the Gloves I used and using Gloves in my Garden journey give the tips from my experience let me know if I miss any Glove type in the comments or you can also mention Gloves that you want to know about.
- The best hygiene habit is whatever gloves you’re using it’s preferable to wash your hands after gardening. Not just washing use hand wash and give a proper 20sec hand wash. After that apply mild hand cream or any body lotion or coconut oil to protect your hands.
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