exceedingly good gloves.
After many years of buying gloves and extensive testing (they are tax deductible for me as they count as protective safety wear), this is my line-up.
Top left to right:
Red Showa Floreo lightweight nylon liner and rubber palm for detailed work, like sowing seeds and pricking out. Can be washing washed. As they are thin, they are not very hardwearing, so strictly for detailed work
Blue/grey Showa 330 Regrip, reinforced at thumb and forefinger where I wear out gloves most quickly. Machine washable and a good choice for warmer weather. Good for general garden work like digging, pruning, planting, weeding.
Grey Showa 451 Thermo gardening glove. Excellent in cold weather and for gardeners with circulation problems in their hands. Not suitable for warm weather (I ended up with blisters from transpiration before) but my choice when the 330 Regrip are no longer warm enough, machine washable.
Yellow CSM Thins gauntlet. For once a different manufacturer. Thinsulated but ok in all but the hottest weather, superb when dealing with thorny plants. My go to glove for brambles and roses. They are a snug fit initially but will stretch. I prefer them over my old Rostaing because they are lined. I think they may be discontinued now, could not find them on the website when I last looked.
Bottom row:
Myla evening gloves, excellent for "general pottering" but equally good for a very dressy occasion. Definitively not machine washable.
Keep clean, warm and have fun!
OOOh, thanks for this gloves post. I never seem to have the right gloves for gardening, particularly in the winter when I sometimes get chilblains. I was really embarrassed last year when I couldn't get engrained dirt off my hands after lots of digging. I ended up doing handscrubs and overnight handcream wearing cotton gloves ! Very romantic. I always try to wear gloves now.
ReplyDeleteChilblains, gosh, now that takes the fun out of gardening. Those "fun" gardening gloves sold in the DIY stores are not a great choice in my opinion, especially not when it is wet. Let's face it, the soil is often wet and you have wet (and cold) fingers in no time.
ReplyDeleteIf it is seriously cold and I have to work (think pruning apple trees), I wear a thin pair of thinsulate gloves (the knitted type) and then the thermal ones on top (I have go up a size to accommodate the extra layer). It gives me just about enough dexterity to wield a pruning saw or some loppers but I would struggle to operate secateurs.
Hope you have cosy fingers this winter.
I second you on the handcream and of course a good oldfashioned nail brush is essential, too.