Gardening Gloves Boot Camp

I’ve been running a little ‘gardening gloves boot camp’ here at May Dreams Gardens, putting a new pair of gloves through various drills and exercises in the garden to see how well they hold up.

We’ll call this pair of gloves “Ethel” since they came here compliments of Ethel Gloves.

Right off, Ethel looked fancier than any pair of gloves I’ve ever tried. Oh my, such a fancy package! She was in a little burlap bag, in the pocket of a nice folder, inside a cardboard sleeve.

But, as with all new “recruits” here at May Dreams Gardens’ gardening gloves boot camp, all Ethel’s finery was quickly cast aside and I immediately started putting her through various drills and exercises.

First, the fit. I put Ethel on my hands and was pleased with the fit. No gaps or wrinkles and no major restriction in hand motion.

But wearing a pretty pair of gloves to meander around the garden is one thing, working in them is quite another.

So we (me and the new gloves, "Ethel") got right to work transplanting several new perennials I had picked up on the way home from work that day. Usually, if I try to wear gloves while transplanting, at about the point when I am getting the plant out of the pot, I end up taking the gloves off and casting them aside.

But not with Ethel! She handled this task quite well, staying on my hands the whole time, though she did get a might dirty.

On to the next drill, weeding. How would she do with tough thistle plants? Or some small weeds, which is where most gloves fail. She did a fine job. I didn’t once feel the urge to tear the gloves off my hands while weeding and I was able to grasp the weeds to pull them out, both big weeds and small weeds.

Next, I tried deadheading. No problems here. I found it was very easy to cut back some spent blooms while wearing these gloves.

Maybe I could break her with watering? So I wore Ethel while watering all the container plants, and even though she got wet, she hung in there. I got wet, too, but that’s another story for another post.

Now that Ethel was dirty, wet and stained, I decide she was nearly ready to move on to the last exercise at gardening gloves boot camp. But first, she had to survive the washing machine.

So I tossed her in the washer with a load of jeans and she came out as good as new, still the same size, and ready for the last exercise, hoeing.

I have absolutely no use for a pair of gardening gloves that isn’t up to the task of hoeing in the vegetable garden. So early one morning, I put Ethel on my hands and picked up a hoe for this final test. I then spent the morning hoeing and weeding in the garden, and I kept the gloves on the entire time. As the temperatures warmed up, I did notice my hands were getting a little warm, but this would happen with any gloves worn on a hot day.

Ethel, having completed this final exercise quite well, graduated from my gardening gloves boot camp with high marks and a promotion to the top of the stack of gloves I use in the garden.

The one test I couldn’t perform in a few days was a longevity test. How long will Ethel gloves last under normal gardening condition? I don’t know, but I like these gloves well enough to wear them often enough that I’ll find out at some point.

I really do like these gloves.

*****

Would you like to try a pair of Ethel gloves for yourself?

You can enter a contest here to win a free pair of these women’s gardening gloves. Just visit the Ethel Gloves website to decide which style you like best and then leave a comment on this post indicating your preference by the deadline of Friday, June 27, 2008, 5:00 PM EDT.

The winner will be determined by a random number generator set to the number of comments received.

If you don’t win and think you might still like to try to garden with Ethel gloves, you can enter a code of ‘maydreams’ on their web site to get 10% off until July 22, 2008.

*****

Now, to conclude this gardening gloves boot camp, let’s march in unison back to our gardens, chanting as we go:

Left right, left right.

Gardening makes hands dir-ty
Ethel gloves keep hands dirt free.
Before you go and hug a tree
Leave a comment to win some for free.

Left right, left right.

If you don’t win, don’t despair
Use MayDreams, get 10% off there.
Then Ethel gloves you can wear
In your garden and everywhere.

Left right, left right…