10 Neat Things about Gardening Gloves
Gardening gloves aren’t just for delicate ladies! They are hard-wearing tools, as important as your trowel and hoe in the garden. Follow the link to discover 10 Neat Things about the different kinds, different materials and different properties of gardening gloves. Who knows? You just might find something that you could really use!
1. Historical beginnings.
Gardening gloves aren’t just a modern convenience, they date back to at least medieval times. Early versions were made from stiff leather and were used to protect the hands from dirt and thorns. During the Renaissance, formal gardens were popular among aristocrats and their gardening gloves were made of silk and kid leather and could be embellished with embroidery and jewels. (I’m not sure how much gardening was done in them though!) Gardening gloves became more utilitarian in the 19th century, with the burgeoning middle class.
2. Rose pruners.
Beyond the typical glove, there are specialized designs for specific tasks, like rose pruning gloves with gauntlets that extend up the forearm. They tend to be made of pig skin or thicker material, which is good for protecting against thorns. Today they can be made with Kevlar or other technical materials, though pig skin is still in use and very good.
3. Material matters.
The material of a gardening glove can greatly influence its function. For example, nitrile-coated gloves offer excellent dexterity and are resistant to water and oils, making them perfect for wet gardening days and handling chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Nitrile coating also offers some protection against thorns.
4. Eco-friendly options.
There’s a growing trend towards eco-friendly gardening gloves made from sustainable materials like bamboo, which is not only soft and breathable but also naturally antimicrobial. (Bamboo contains a substance called bamboo kun, which helps bamboo plants resist pests and fungal growth in their natural environment. When bamboo is processed into fabric, some of these antimicrobial properties are believed to carry over.) Other materials are organic cotton, recycled materials and natural rubber.
5. Thermal linings.
Some gardening gloves come with thermal linings to keep hands warm during late fall and early spring. You can also buy glove liners, which have been around forever. There are glove liners to add warmth or just add comfort, if you should have gloves that have seen better days or are otherwise uncomfortable. They’re like socks for your hands.
6. Touchscreen compatibility.
Modern gardening gloves may include touchscreen-compatible fingertips, allowing gardeners to use smartphones or tablets without removing their gloves. They work (as on winter gloves) by using conductive materials in the threads, such as metals like silver or copper. However, the conductivity of the gloves can wear down over time and cheaply made touchscreen compatible gloves may not work very well to begin with.
7. Reinforced grip.
Many gloves have reinforced grip areas that not only make holding tools easier but also help reduce the wear and tear on the gloves themselves, extending their life. The flowery little cotton gloves that drugstores sell for gardening claim to have a reinforced grip owing to some PVC dots on the fingers that do just about nothing. Serious glove makers use rubber, silicone, leather or nitrile for serious grip.
“Aren’t all gloves ergonomic?” you might ask. What was referring to is some gloves which are specially designed to reduce hand fatigue during long gardening sessions. They include things like padded palms – something that would have been useful to me last weekend, out planting bulbs in clay soil! They can also have reinforced grip to prevent tool slippage and pre-curved fingers to reduce the strain of maintaining a curved grip.
9. Water resistance.
Most of the time you want gloves that resist moisture; some plant stems are quite juicy. Sometimes you want waterproof gloves, like when you are getting your hands into something really mucky or picking slugs off of plants. There are gloves for both situations. The one problem with waterproof gloves, like neoprene gloves, is that they don’t breathe well. Life is full of choices.
Gardening gloves are meant to get dirty, but some folks can only accept so much grime on what we put on our bodies. Many gardening gloves are machine washable (check for a tag). Cotton and bamboo gloves you can wash and dry easily. Anything with neoprene or nitrile may be washable but is probably not machine dryable. Any special features on your gloves, like padded palms, may wear down with repeated washings. And leather, unless it has been specifically treated for washability, should only be spot cleaned.
