Joan Wilen and Lydia Wilen
Joan Wilen and Lydia Wilen are folk-remedy experts and home tipsters based in New York City. They have spent decades collecting “cures from the cupboard” and are authors of several books, including Secret Food Cures.
Gloves are valuable protective gear for most gardeners. There are those gardeners who hate the feel of gloves. It could be due to difficulty finding gloves that fit, or maybe it’s a dislike for the way gloves separate the gardener from the feel of the growing plants and the soil. Whatever the reason some gardeners just don’t wear gloves and gardening without gloves is hard of the hands.
In this excerpt from the book Household Magic by Joan and Lydia Wilen the authors give their tips gardening without gloves and keeping your hands and nails looking presentable.
Gloves will help protect your hands from getting cuts, splinters and blisters. They will also help keep your nails clean.
Even though it’s a good idea to wear gloves when gardening, many gardeners prefer to remain bare-handed while they commune with nature. Here are a few suggestions for you gloveless gardeners, so that you don’t get too “down and dirty
Right before you start to garden, scratch a wet bar of soap with your nails. Make sure that a bit of soap gets under each fingernail. Doing so will prevent soil from getting under your nails.
Soil under the nails is hard to clean, whereas soap can be easily washed and nail-brushed away as soon as you’ve finished gardening.
Moist hands blister easily. When your hands get sweaty from working with a shovel or hoe, rub your palms with some soil to help keep them dry and blister-free.
It’s not unusual for a person working in the gar[1]den to get a scrape…a scratch…a nick…a gash… or an insect bite. However, you don’t have to run into your house to tend to every little abrasion.
The answer is to take a small spray bottle of full-strength distilled white vinegar outside with you whenever you garden.
Spritz the minor wound with the vine[1]gar—which will help prevent it from becoming a major infection—then cover the boo-boo with a bandage until you go indoors and can clean and dress it properly.
After gardening, add one teaspoon of sugar to your soapy lather, and wash your hands with it. The sugar acts as an abrasive to clean away grass and garden stains.
Garden lime—which is used to raise the pH level (the measurement of acid/alkaline) of soil, and to add calcium or break up heavy clay soil—can dry out your hands and make them look like alligator skin.
Whenever your hands have been exposed to lime—even a little of it—pour some distilled white vinegar on them. After one to two minutes—once the vinegar has had a chance to neutralize the lime—rinse your hands with plain water. (And next time, you might want to wear gloves when you work with lime.)
Easy Knee Protection
Knee pads will add to your gardening endurance. To make an affordable pair, take your most comfortable work pants and sew on knee patches, leaving the top side of each patch open—as though you’ve sewn a pocket on each knee. (For proper placement of the patches, be sure to get into “gardening position” to determine exactly where the pants bend at the knee. Kneeling on something damp will help “mark the spot.”)
In each knee-pocket, place a sponge…or a substantial shoulder pad…or a piece of foam rubber. If you have a couple of extra computer mouse pads, you can use them as knee cush[1]ions, too
You can also put on an old pair of pantyhose and line up foam rubber pads (or thick sanitary napkins) at the knees. If you’re uncomfortable being seen in this getup, put on a pair of work pants over the pantyhose.
To learn more tips for gardening and daily living check out Household Magic from Bottomlineinc.com.
