As a women farmer, which owns and operates a sustainable farm and nursery, and a gardener with small hands (but long fingers) my problem has always been finding well-made gloves that fit at a price that is affordable. The search for the best garden gloves accelerated last year when I decided to add a line of garden gloves to my online nursery and garden store Stargazer Perennials, and to offer a line of garden gloves at my farm store in eastern Oregon. Our philosophy at Stargazer Perennials on selling products, including those that we produce, has always been to offer only the highest quality products at a fair price to our customers. So started the gardening glove search...

When selecting products to offer to my customers, I have found the best way is to just test drive them myself for 12 months. If a gardening product doesn't perform on the farm, then it doesn't get added to our product line. Below are my independent gardening glove test results:


Foxglove Garden Gloves
Foxgloves Garden Gloves style tested: Foxglove Original Garden Glove that retails for$20.00. These garden gloves are made from stretchy, soft Lycra fabric. Foxglove garden gloves are available in 3 sizes (small, medium and large) and in 9 fun colors. Not waterproof, Foxglove garden gloves are machine washable, line dry. The stretchy fabric that Foxgloves are constructed from can be pulled up your forearm for more protection, although I found it always fell back down to settle around my wrist.

Foxglove Garden Glove Pros: Soft on your hands with no rough seams to cause blisters, machine washable, great colors, stretch to fit
Foxglove Garden Glove Cons: These gloves look great but are not durable! I tore through a pair after several weeks working on the farm cleaning up my perennial and vegetable beds. I found these gloves provided no protection to my hands from thorns, branches, gravel or anything sharp. The long stretchy cuff always ended up bunched down around my wrist and a small amount of the dye from the gloves bleed through onto my hands after repeated hours of being wet.
Foxglove Garden Glove review: Foxglove garden gloves would work well for a casual gardener who is potting indoor plants or planting a bed of annuals. Comfortable and lightweight they are not a solid work glove for heavy duty activities.

Bionic Garden Gloves:
Bionic Gardening Glove style tested: Class Gardening Glove that retails for $39.95.  Bionic gardening gloves are constructed from top grade leather and are available in 4 sizes (small, medium, large and extra large) in both men’s and women's sizes. Bionic garden gloves are made from machine washable leather that gets softer with use. Bionic garden gloves are designed to provide protection and support to your hands. The wrist closure of the Bionic gardening gloves with a handy Velcro tab does helps to keep dirt and debris out of the glove.

Bionic Gardening Glove Pros: Bionic gardening gloves are a very well constructed gardening glove which is almost identical to their driving and golf glove. Thoughtful design was given to the placement of pads and stretch inserts of the Bionic garden glove for maximum freedom of movement. Bionic garden gloves come sized in both men’s and women’s sizes. Even with small hands, the Bionic women’s glove fit my hands very well. Bionic garden gloves are tough; after one year of wear the Bionic garden gloves were still intact. I also found Bionic gardening gloves provide protection against thorns, rocks, tool handles and other sharp objects.
Bionic Gardening Glove Cons: At a retail price of $39.95, I found Bionic garden gloves to be priced on the high end of the scale and probably more than I would personally spend for a pair of garden gloves. Bionic garden gloves did work well in the spring, but were far too hot to wear all day long in the summer. I found myself repeatedly taking Bionic garden gloves off to let my hands breath while working. Once wet, I found Bionic garden gloves to be sticky and restrictive in movement.
Bionic Garden Glove review: Bionic garden gloves are well suited for a casual gardener who likes a high quality leather glove that resembles a golf or driving glove in fit.

West County Garden Gloves:
West County Garden Gloves style tested: Garden Work Glove that retails for $19.95. West County Garden Gloves are a high performance, synthetic garden glove available in 4 sizes (small, medium, large and extra large) and in 6 fashionable colors. West County Gardener Gloves are machine washable; include a terry cloth brow wipe, padded palms and adjustable cuff to keep dirt and debris out of the glove. West County Garden Gloves are designed and constructed to provide protection to the hands, while not limiting movement.

West County Garden Glove Pros: West County Garden Gloves are very well constructed and provided protection from sharp objects, thorns, twigs and repeated use of garden hand tools. After one year of vigorous farm use, my test pair of West County Garden Gloves is still intact. West County Gloves are breathable, yet warm. I found that West County Garden Gloves were as comfortable to wear in the spring as they were in the summer. At a retail price of $19.95, West County Garden Work Gloves are by far the best value for your dollar.
West County Garden Glove Cons: The stretchy fabric on the back of my hand, allowed for movement and airflow, but also allowed dirt and dust in.
West County Garden Glove review: The favorite gardening glove of Farm Fresh Living and Stargazer Perennials hands down! West County Garden Gloves are economical, quality, high performance garden and work gloves that hold up to rigors of serious gardeners and farmers. West County Gardener also produces several other high performance, functional and value priced gloves including: West County Rose Gloves, West County Waterproof Gloves and West County Classic Gloves. For more about West County Garden Gloves, read our complete review at Farm Fresh Living.

Priced Right:
Not only are West County Garden great gloves, but they are a bargain! The standard work glove which I live in retails for $19.95, the rose gloves which are indestructible (my mom transplants cactus with them in Arizona) retail for $ 31.95, the insulated waterproof glove retails at $29.50 and their newest glove the Classic is priced at $23.95

You can purchase West County Gloves at the Farm Fresh Living online store.

As a woman farmer and business woman I wear gloves everyday and I still am using a pair of work glove from 2 years ago! That's about $.83 a month... now that’s a Farm Fresh Value!