I don't like using gloves especially when weeding - but - with Holy Communion, Baptism, Wedding and Funeral services/visits, sometimes I have to wear gloves to keep my hands near decent. As for podding broad beans before any of the above - that is totally off the agenda and not something to do with gloves on!!!
This summer, while cutting back shrubs, i accidentally dropped the secateurs... foolishly decided to catch them! I should have been wearing gloves. Ended up with a deep gash in my thumb and at the doctors! I now wear gloves in the garden.
The best pair of gloves I ever used in the garden were a beautiful pair of leather dress gloves I inherited from my dad (1980). They were soft yet tough and lasted for years, that was until my husband used them to turn the rods when he was sweeping our chimney. Needless to say he ruined them and almost caused a divorce. I now use surgical gloves which are comfortable.
I have gardened for some 40 plus years and having suffered a very bad dose of Lock jaw picked up through a cut on my hand while planting i would not consider touching any soil without wearing surgical gloves which are cheap enough now and readily available in a lot of shops.
My students whinge about wearing gloves ..... I have a lovely selection on offer from fine green ones to thick leather, but they shun them all! As part of the inevitable Health & Safety audit, I have to supply gloves and suggest the kids wear them, (in case of thorns or rattlesnake bites!!) but of course they can make their own choice. Perhaps the new generation of gardeners have unwittingly backed up the old notion of not being cool if they use gloves. My rugby playing kids are especially reluctant to don them. Personally I have acrylic nails that look vile if they have a layer of mud under them, so pink tight fitting gloves are the order of the day for me!!!!
A nailcare tip: if you scrape a bar of soap with your fingernails before you start gardening then any dirt will easily wash out. Next week: hair and make-up!
Whenever I hear a gardener (usually male) say they don't wear gloves, I find myself wondering who washes their handkerchiefs. Like the lady who needs to respond quickly to her toddler's needs, I find it so much easier to pull a glove off to get to a clean hand than to go indoors to a washbasin. Also, don't the anti-glove brigade ever find themselves faced with an unexpected stinging nettle when they are weeding?
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Whenever I hear a gardener (usually male) say they don't wear gloves, I find myself wondering who washes their handkerchiefs. Like the lady who needs to respond quickly to her toddler's needs, I find it so much easier to pull a glove off to get to a clean hand than to go indoors to a washbasin.
Also, don't the anti-glove brigade ever find themselves faced with an unexpected stinging nettle when they are weeding?