I rarely wear gloves when I garden. I try to plan my gardening so that I have time to come in to shower and wash my hair. The shampoo and scrubbing motion keep my nails clean. And a professional manicure once in a while is my "vice", in addition to buying plants.

I think the best kept secret around is one size fits all 'string gloves' , i.e. knitted out of string. I just picked up another pack of 12 at Walkart for $4. They protect my hands from stickers, are thin enough I can feel what I'm doing and with a couple of those big packs I just grap a clean pair and periodically run the dirty ones thru a cold wash (or washem on my hands in my rain barrel)...oh, the other use is to spray/paint herbicide on the glove (rubber glove beneath of course)to apply to grass growing among things you don't want to dig and sort out. Guess I likem hunh? 8-)))

I recently blew $25 on gloves called Foxgloves (it was a birthday gift from me, to me) and they were worth every cent. The things are fantastic. I wear them for all my garden work.

They keep my hands completely clean (and protect them from sun, which has been an issue for me; I use waterproof sunscreen, but of course the first handwash with soap and water removes it). They are so thin and well-fitting they never compromise my dexterity.

I couldn't find them a couple days ago and I kind of wandered aimlessly around for a while, not wanting to garden without my Foxgloves! Now I'm plotting how to scrape up the money for a second pair, so I can use one pair if the other pair is on the line drying (they wash up great by the way).

Kristin