Owning weather-beaten, corrugated hands may well be a badge of honour for some horticulturalists, but we prefer to lend our paws a bit of protection from the rigours of gardening duties. Whether providing a barrier from the muck and detritus, or to keep your digits mobile on a cold spring morning, a pair of decent, durable gardening gloves is a must.
There’s a baffling choice of gloves on the market, promising protection against all types of conditions for all types of gardener. Fortunately, we’ve managed to get our grubby fingers on some of the best.
7. Showa Floreo 370 Lightweight Garden Gloves
These skin-tight gloves are a fine, lightweight choice for summertime garden activities. The soft, stretchy construction makes them extremely comfortable to wear, and the nitrile palm coating grips garden implements like a snail on a hosta. They pack down small, so you can stuff them into your pocket when not in use, and you can lob them in the washing machine after a day on the garden to revive them ready for their next outing.
You can buy the gloves from HERE.
6. Town & Country Master Gardener
Often spotted dangling from a garden centre display rack, these ubiquitous gardening gauntlets are America's best-selling glove – and rightly so. For a shade under 10 dollars, you are getting a dependable, durable, water-resistant glove. The mottled, ribbed-grip pattern provides good purchase, and at the same time makes your hands look dexterous. Available in either small or medium.
You can buy the gloves from HERE.
5. Oregon Protective Chainsaw Gloves
Budding arborists need extra protection when lopping, chopping and sawing branches, so here’s a pair designed for the task in hand. Specifically suited for operating chainsaws, these gloves have extra padding on the left, most exposed hand, while retaining a thinner leather construction to maximise grip and dexterity on the right. This also makes them particularly useful for wearing while cutting back brushwood with a handsaw, or sawing up logs to stuff into your wood burner. These fit tightly around the wrist to keep out muck and splinters, and come in eye-popping orange.
You can buy the gloves from HERE.
4. Gold Leaf Winter Touch
A princely pair for delicate digits. These deluxe gardening gloves are designed for winter gardening in cold climes, thanks to their Thinsulate thermal lining and waterproof membrane. Made from deerskin and featuring a reinforced palm, these are super-soft to wear and allow a decent amount of hand articulation despite the thermal padding. Thrust them into a pile of wet leaves and your hands will remain snug. When it’s cold outside, you’ll want a pair of these on to prevent green fingers from turning blue. Available in either men’s or women’s sizes.
You can buy the gloves from HERE.
3. Schiek 530 Platinum Gloves
Even though these are designed for those wishing to sculpt abs and biceps rather than lawns and borders, these muscular weightlifting mitts provide unrivalled cushioning and grip, which is exactly what you need when flailing around with heavy garden implements. And because they are fingerless, your pinkies will be free to engage in gentle seedling handling and other delicate garden tasks – in between bouts of noisy, horticulturally-induced grunting. Available from size small to XXL.
You can buy the gloves from HERE.
2. Harrod Horticultural Leather Gauntlets
For extra protection when plunging your hands into rose bushes and other belligerent shrubbery, you’ll want to invest in a pair of gauntlet-style gloves. These are a fine pair, made from gold grain leather and affording graze and puncture protection right up to your forearm. They will wear a tad stiff on the first few outings, but soon soften up. Thorns and briers can be grabbed with confidence – your hands and arms will come up scratch-free and smelling of roses. Available in either men’s or women’s sizes.
You can buy the gloves from HERE.
1. Bionic ReliefGrip Gardening Gloves
Made from stretchable, breathable lycra and featuring multi-panelled finger sections, these futuristic-looking robo-mitts afford generous amounts of hand flexibility for such well-padded gloves. They feel soft and supple in use, and provide a decent level of thorn protection. The only downside is that they only come in white – not the most practical of colours for scrabbling around in the dirt, but at least they are easy to spot if you misplace them in the undergrowth. Available in either men’s or women’s sizes.
You can buy the gloves from HERE.