Anyone garden without gloves? I can't stand them. I need to feel the roots when I pull a weed, and it just seems barbaric to prune a shrub or even a tomato plant with gloves. I finally got outside today and tackled a very very weedy vegetable garden and I will admit that my hands are sore.

How about without shoes? I love weeding and dead heading in my flower and herb beds without shoes. There's lots of cushy lemon thyme growing there and it smells delightful when you step on it.

depends what I'm dealing with. I wear gloves when I work with my roses or other thorny things.

My yard has snakes, we live rural and on a river so, yard work requires long pants, shoes and sometimes gloves. My hoe is by the door in case I need it for snake removal. My DH uses a shot gun.

I don't use my gloves unless I am trimming the roses. But, I always, always wear shoes, I have horrible feet and cannot run around barefoot.

I too like to feel the root to pull weeds and dig in the soil!

When I had a garden I didn't wear gloves or shoes. Shoes make my feet hurt.

I wear tight fitting latex (or equivalent) gloves and long sleeves and pants as I'm allergic to so many things. We too have snakes so I just watch carefully.

I hate to wear gloves or shoes. First of all I have small hands and trying to get gloves with short fingers is hard. In the winter time as soon as my car is partially warm they come off.

Shoes; well if I could go barefoot all of the time I would. I rarely buy shoes because they are so disapointing. They look so good on the shelf and then when you try to wear them they cause you pain. We were poor growing up and so shoes were never at the top of the list of needs so we rarely wore shoes and I guess I never got used to them. I loved living in Hawaii because they aren't focused on shoes like we are here on the mainland. My kids loved it because if they wanted to go to school barefooted or wear flip flops they could. Now Jackets; that's another story, I love to buy and make them and love to wear them

I don't wear gloves but I do wear shoes. I always cut corners and end up with my toes being blue, purple and green for weeks :(

I wear gloves to try to keep my hands clean... but somehow the dirt gets in there anyway! But garden shoeless? Never. Ants bite. Even the northern ones!

No gloves when I do venture into the yard. Have to wear shoes anymore because I'm a sissy. If it's muddy though, the shoes gotta come off so I can be squishy.

Yes, I do wear gloves as much as I can because I hate how dry it makes my hands when I dig in dirt. I have to take them off when I can't tell feel enough to tell what I'm doing! Shoes all the time too, at least crocs or sandals-I hate crusty feet-aren't I sounding OLD?

Both shoes and gloves for me. I can't stand to go without.

Yes, shoes and gloves and straw hat and long sleeved shirt and jeans. Stepped on a bee when I was eight...foot swelled up for a week. Insect bites also swell up. Work outside early in the mornings or late evenings with the heat so hot here.

Gloves? No.
Shoes, If I have to leave to go somewhere. I never wear shoes while im at home. For anything. Yes yard work and all. Unless I have to go past the property line into the treeline, I see no need to wear shoes. Even then, I can just watch where I go I guess.

Barefoot,braless and gloveless ;)

Krystyna, I have to tell you this story, it just happened a week ago.

A girl I work with went home after work to find her husband pulling weeds from around newly planted little pine trees. So she thought she would help him finish up, and starting in helping him. No gloves, no hat. Well, two days later
she ended up in the hospital with huge red patches all over her body and severe itching and a fever. They did blood tests and all they told her was that she had a reaction to some weed that actually stuck her while she was pulling them. A week later her itching is gone, but the marks on her skin are still there. She was in misery.

She couldn't figure it out, because they didn't see any thing in the area that should have caused this. They know poisonous plants, and they didn't see any.

So, my thoughts, wear gloves to be safe.

Me too. Shoes, gloves, jeans and sometimes long sleeved shirt depending on where I'm working. While I harvest without gloves, I never go without shoes in the garden.

Don't think I could do braless. Girls get a mind of their own when Im all sweaty, They seem to like to run around a bit. Better to keep them confined and in time out.

no gloves but spiders and snakes make shoes a requirement

never used to wear either, now I do; edging and stepping on the shovel I need shoes.

I weed & garden without gloves, but I do wear shoes or flip flops.

Always wear gloves & shoes! I have 2 neighbors that got bit by poisonous spiders while gardening. One on the foot under the toe area & was wearing Crocs and another on the finger.Not good for either. That taught me, not that I like it mind you. lol

Flip flops & gloves. Never used to wear gloves until a friendly bird planted poison ivy but forgot to tell me. Got the expected skin reaction and than some. I ended up with cellulitis. Not a happy camper.

I wear both. Poison, poison, poison. We've lived here 25 years and its still around. I wear both.

I don't wear gloves or shoes.

No gloves, but always shoes. Can't do anything without shoes, my feet hurt.

Gloves...No
I'm a very old farm gal....... I'm from WV where we aren't afraid to let the grass tickle our tootsies..... No shoes from May til Nov outside unless I'm goin somewhere!

Krystyna, how do you feel about quilting gloves? Toes on the foot pedal?

I go barefoot in the vegetable garden as it is under my control and I have brick paths between the raised beds, which I am not afraid of hopping into barefoot. Except in the artichokes and squash, too prickly. I HATE!! gloves except for outside the fence where there are all kinds of nasty poison ivy and prickers.
My daughter bought me FoxGloves, which are skinny and breathable but keep my hands clean when I want to weed; they are great but not as good as grabbing a root barehanded!
The big deal for me in personal protection for gardening is covering my head arms and legs from the sun, and avoiding the garden at dawn and dusk for the mosquitoes.

Have to wear gloves these days...always use shoes or wellington boots. Our land is stony and sloping, also we have snakes, red-back spiders, centipedes, scorpions all manner of biting creatures. Can't go out in the sun anymore, so no more gardening in my bathers in summer....big hat, huge sunglasses and sleeves.

same here... my hands get dry and cracked if I don't... must admit, however, I love the feel of really rich soil...

We have so much poison ivy, and I'm extremely allergic, so I wear long sleeves, long pants, sox over the pants, and gloves. I smear Tex-tu over myself before working in the garden, and wash with it after. And I still get it sometimes - usually a spot on my face where I forget to smear/wash! The best thing for me is to stay completely OUT of the garden - which I've decided to do this year!

I started to itch just typing this!

How I use to love going barefoot but can't do that anymore. I've always worn gloves...keeps the nails clean.

Eeeek! Too funny! Actually, sometimes I skip the bra, too. Especially when it's really hot -- but only in the backyard where the neighbors can't see!

Quilting gloves? Never! I need to feel the fabric. We also have brick paths through the garden with clouds of lovely lemon thyme poking up. The only time I wear shoes (flip flops) back there is when the weeds have gotten out of hand and I'm not sure where the dogs went!

The bugs are awful through most of the day. Those horrid biting no-see-ums ... BUT ... I just read a tip that actually works to keep them off - Vicks Vaporub. No more bites!

Emerald46 - as for clean nails - after I scrub, I dip a Qtip in hydrogen peroxide and they are bubbled clean.

now that sounds "di-vine"

Just asking for trouble when your feet and hands are not protected. There are a variety of microbes in the soil that can be absorbed into your body thru porous skin.

I used to garden without shoes or gloves. When I moved to Ft. Lauderdale Fla, I continued the practice. I got a skin infection which I call Ft. Lauderdale Crud. I still have it (now in N.C.). I have to keep putting lotion on the hands...if I forget for a week, my hands start to dry, crack and bleed. Won't even talk about my feet....too many years in high heels now I'm in orthodics and "shoe box type of shoes"....Should not have gotten old and fat (ha ha).

Lynn :-(

No gloves for me either. I feel restricted in gloves. Shoes sometimes, depends on what I'm doing in the yard. I sure enjoy being in the yard and working in the flower beds; mostly I enjoy sitting inside and admiring my work.

I'm with you. No gloves and barefoot. just love to feel the soil ( feet and hands ) What better way to get back to nature.

Whether I wear my gloves depends on what I'm doing. Since I am a "desk jockey" I don't have the calluses that I want/should have.

As far as shoes, I have lots of overgrown spots, I really don't want to find a snake/rat/rabbit with my bare feet. >.<

PS - I do love the feel of good soil on my hands & mud up between my toes. :)