Warning for new gardeners …..

I’m one of those gardeners that always starts off with gloves but ends up using my hands when potting up, planting etc etc as I find it easier to work without gloves.
I’ve never had a problem until last year. I ended up with infected fingers - almost like a collection of worts spreading around, very itchy and unsightly. It took months for my fingers to return to normal over the winter. Lesson learned and I use gloves for all my gardening now …..
So if you are new to gardening I advise using gloves ! I don’t know what goes into modern compost bags these days ….

 

A lot of gloves are fabric with rubber sections and don't keep your hands clean anyway. I try to wear thin latex gloves underneath (they can be reused quite a lot) and the outer gloves can come off for delicate pricking out.
Don't always remember though...

 

Thanks for the heads up I do the same start with gloves and take em off for the delicate bits.
Lesson learnt.

 

On that note....I tackled my Agave thicket today and discovered that the sap is incredibly irritant. Just touching bare skin with the gloves that had been in contact with them produced the most awful itching. I pity the poor soul who cadged some from me last year, firmly believing that they were Aloe Vera, despite my warnings to the contrary

 

I find gloves bring me up in a rash.
I must be allergic to them.

I do find mud dries my hands out and my fingers split, which is downright painful.

 

I use light nitrile gloves for most gardening and also heavy cloth ones on top if it is heavy or rough work.

 

When swinging the axe you mean.

 

When I'm in the garden first thing I do is put my gloves on whether potting on, weeding or pruning but every time when Im done I've got dirty nails !

 

I use leather gloves from M&S for years now when I deal with soil and taking out plants. They last approx. for 2 years and never had any issues.

 

I have to use these at work and find that after a short time they just split and tear leaving hot sweaty fingers and don't mention sterile latex free medical gloves, after a short time they change colour and fall apart.
I've never regularly worn gloves in the garden and had no problems, grubby nails and fingers aren't a problem as I don't socialise and anyway a baking session soon cleans them.
Gloves are worn if I know I'm dealing with patches of brambles or nettles and pruning roses.
I have a pair of grippy gloves for handling glass.
I sometimes use a glove on the left hand and then the right handles the tools and the left grips the object.

 

My daughter comes out in a rash when she has to wear those latex gloves at work. I do something very similar to you @NigelJ with the 'one hand gloved' method, and I used to joke that once I'd made some bread or scones, my hands were quite clean again.
I hardly ever wear gloves to garden, even when pruning jaggy stuff or doing dirty work, but it's usually only when doing rough, really dirty jobs that I use them. I worked outside for most of my working life, and you just get used to your hands being dirty.

Could it be something else you're allergic too @glosmike - handwash or similar, rather than the plants themselves, and it's just been a reaction between the two?

 

I got some very fine leather gloves from Lidl. You can feel through them, which I like. They're no good for thorny issues so I use thicker ones for roses and brambles. I often put a thin one on one hand and a thick one on the other. It's good to be able to use the odd gloves that the foxes leave me.