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The Best Gardening Gloves to Get a Better Grip on Your Plant Babies
The go-to gloves for any thorny situation.
“Spring is sprung, the grass is riz,” as the old Jimmy Durante quote goes. Whether your little patch of paradise is a sprawling suburban yard or a small windowsill, or whether you gear up for greenery every season or are just now taking your first plunge with a gardening kit, you probably can't wait to put winter behind you and get your hands dirty.
Well, we mean getting your hands dirty strictly in the metaphorical sense, because the truth is, gardening gloves are a crucial tool for any green thumb to have on hand. Sure, there's the temptation to go bare hands as you cultivate the land, but gardening gloves can do more than just keep your fingernails clean. A reliable pair can prevent injury from thorns or errant branches, provide cushioned protection during intense landscaping, and even guard against blades and other sharp objects.
So, whether you're shopping for yourself, your kids, or your green-thumbed friend, a reliable pair of gardening gloves is a must have.
The Best Gardening Gloves
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What to Consider
While it's easy to think that any glove will do, there are actually a number of factors to take into consideration when choosing the best gloves for your task at hand. We checked in with Clive Harris, founder of DIY Garden — one of the top gardening blogs in the UK — who shared some key things to consider when it comes to gardening gloves:
Choose the Right Gloves for the Job
“Garden tasks vary enormously, and having the right gloves for the job makes them safer and easier,” says Davis. “For example, if you want to prune roses or thorny bushes, choose leather and gauntlet-style arm protection. Lightweight gloves with rubber palms are excellent for a safe grip on lawnmowers or shears, and knuckle protection helps keep your hands safe during landscaping jobs.”
Bright Colors
“Lots of gardening gloves are green, but it’s a much better idea to buy a bright, contrasting color so you can see where your fingers are when you’re using tools, or simply find them again if you leave them on the grass,” says Davis. If your gloves must be green, make sure the palms are contrasting colors!
Avoid Bunching in the Fingertips
“If possible, try on gardening gloves before you buy,” says Davis. “This is not only to find the best — and therefore safest — fit, but to observe the quality. Poor stitching creates bunching in the fingertips, and this makes your nails and fingertips ache.”
Key Features
- Material: Bamboo, rubber
- Colors: Green, black (palms)
Landing at the perfect price point for an affordable but reliable gardening glove, this pair is made from breathable bamboo fabric, which allows your fingers to move freely and comfortably. The palms and fingertips are covered by a textured rubber coating to keep your hands safe and dry, while ensuring a strong grip. And while the bamboo fabric is green, the black textured coating makes visibility amidst your garden greenery easier.
It's also worth noting that — unlike is the case with some options — these gloves are extremely easy to clean: Think just a simple toss in the mashing machine. After all, there's nothing worse than gardening gloves caked with years' worth of caked-on dirt.
Floral Garden Weeder Gloves
Floral Garden Weeder Gloves
Key Features
- Materials: Nylon/nitrile blend
- Colors: Floral pattern
These flexible nylon gardening gloves keep your mitts safe while you're digging, pruning, and weeding, all without compromising dexterity. Better for light garden work than heavy lifting, these have an appropriately snug fit, and are machine-washable.
Key Features
- Material: Rubber latex, polyester, plastic (claws)
- Colors: Brown, green, or purple options available
For those moments when you need to set aside the spade and do the digging by hand, this pair of gardening gloves enables you to literally claw your way through rocky soil. They come with four plastic claws per hand that let you dig into stubborn patches while sifting away rocks and debris more easily. Then, just run them under the sink to clear away residual dirt on the claws.
Key Features
- Material: Spandex
- Colors: Beige, purple (accents)
If your rosebushes are your pride and joy (once they burst into bloom, of course), make sure you have the proper hand attire to maintain their beauty all season. These reinforced vegan leather gloves from Magid let you get up to your elbows in pruning without getting pricked.
Gardening Gloves (6 Pairs)
Key Features
- Material: Nitrile, microfoam
- Colors: Purple, pink, and green (one pair per color)
If there's more than one gardener in your household — or if you just like to have plenty of backups on hand — this top-rated set of gloves will keep you completely stocked up. Plus, since each set comes with three pairs in playful spring colors, it's easy for each gardener to have their own designated gloves.
These form-fitting, rubber-palm gloves are touted by reviewers for their durability against thorny branches and stubborn weeds.
Soft Jersey Gardening Gloves (3 Pairs)
Soft Jersey Gardening Gloves (3 Pairs)
Key Features
- Material: Cotton
- Colors: Red, blue, and green (one pair per color)
These machine-washable, floral-patterned picks are great for beginner gardeners who are just starting to get their hands dirty. They're made in the classic design, and are capable of handling the simple tasks you'd face when first planting. Plus, the PVC dots on the palms allow users to get a better grip on stubborn weeds.
Original Gardening Gloves
Original Gardening Gloves
Key Features
- Material: Nylon
- Colors: Eight different options
These gloves are impressively light, offering the wearer a tremendous amount of dexterity when compared to other gloves. The nylon is breathable, which makes these gloves great for warm-weather gardening, as they don't cause and trap nearly as much sweat as more heavy-duty gloves tend to. Naturally, as a result, these aren't suited for the most intense yard work, but are fairly durable all the same.
Key Features
- Material: Synthetic leather, spandex
- Colors: Gray, with accents in blue, yellow, brown, or red
For some of us, gardening is only part of our overall yard work. If you're not just planting and watering, but also chopping, mowing, building, and firing off crucial texts and emails throughout, you need a glove that can tackle many tasks at once.
These Handlandy work gloves are as well-suited to the garage as they are to the garden. The tips of the thumb, index, and middle fingers are touchscreen compatible, and there's even a terrycloth strip along the thumb for wicking away sweat.
Long Leather Gardening Gloves
Key Features
- Material: Leather
- Colors: White (glove), red or gray (cuff)
If you've worked with sharp objects before, you might be familiar with NoCry's-Cut Resistant Gloves, which have an EN388 Level 5 protection rating that make them ideal for kitchen use.
Well, it turns out NoCry doesn't just have you covered when you're preparing your vegetables, but also when you're planting them! These gauntlets pride themselves on having twice the protection against punctures as standard leather gardening gloves, thanks to double-layered goatskin leather on the fingertips and palm. But despite their protective thickness, they still offer a commendable range of motion for fingers and wrists.
Melanie Yates is the senior service editor of Best Products, where she writes and reports pieces pertaining to the etiquette, dilemmas, and how-tos of gift-giving for different occasions. Previously, she was the site's senior home editor, covering all things decor- and bedding-related since 2015. Her digital byline can also be found on Bustle, House Beautiful, and Elle Decor. A longtime classical-music enthusiast, Melanie spends her off-hours enjoying performances big and small across New York City.
Michael Natale is the news editor for Best Products, covering a wide range of topics like gifting, lifestyle, pop culture, and more. He has covered pop culture and commerce professionally for over a decade. His past journalistic writing can be found on sites such as Yahoo! and Comic Book Resources, his podcast appearances can be found wherever you get your podcasts, and his fiction can’t be found anywhere, because it’s not particularly good.
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