There are certain tools and services which are particular benefit to the urban gardener. Many are the same ones a rural gardener or small farmer might use. Others are ideal for an urban environment. Here are a few things we’ve tried and our experience with using them.
Bamboo Gloves
We loved these gloves for a while, which we discovered and tried on at a local shop. The medium size fits both her dainty flower-arranging hands and his muscular brick-hurling hands. When they wore out, we bought more. They are stretchy and fit really well, let your hands breathe in hot weather, allow for handling of damp soil due to their palm-side coating, and are sturdy enough for pushing rocks and dirt around but allow for the delicate work as well like thinning tiny seedlings. They do have a downside, which applies to many rubber-coated gloves: the rubber coating can be degraded by oils. We use neem oil as an organic fungicide, and when a little bit got on the rubber coating, the coating became very sticky over the next few weeks, until they were unusable. Once the coating is degraded, there’s no saving the gloves, and they’re not cheap. We ended up having to throw away four pairs of nice gloves for this reason when they became unusable halfway through their first season. Continue reading Product Reviews for the Urban Gardener