Daily Gardening Gear & Garb

Maybe this has been asked before, but I posted to a thread in the Daylily forum and happened to mention my "gardening apron" and thought it would be interesting to see what everyone heads outside to their gardens with on their normal "rounds". I'll start......

I have a black rubber trug that contains all my gloves (3 pairs + my 2 yr old's gloves), 2 sizes of trowels, a double sided cultivator. This goes everywhere with me and I usually load up 6-paks, gallon pots or whatever I happen to be planting in it as I move about from location to location. The real "gem" of my gear is my gardening apron. It's one of those aprons you see hardware store workers wear with 3 or 4 pockets on the front. It's not a full-sized one; it goes around the waist. I keep scissors, pruners, a spiral garden log notebook, pencil, and (yes, I confess) my cigarettes in the pockets. As I plant I put commercial plant tags in one of the pockets to record the specifics in my DG journal of what I planted. I usualy keep my digital camera on me and my cordless phone if I remember to bring it outside with me. My ensemble is completed by my visor, sunglasses and garden clogs.

So what do you tote with you and ritually wear for your garden forays?

I started wearing something new -for me- last summer. We had a horrendous early heat spell. Everything even sunglasses was too dang hot to wear =(

A large brimmed straw hat is indispensable to me now. You know the cheap ones at the marts that are only a few bucks ?
Cheap is good because the weave is so open, I just grabbed a couple different ones last week. You get shade and ventilation all for 3 or 4 bucks.

We need pics of you gardeners in your garb!!!! That would be great! My yard is so small, I just grab what I need at the time out of the garage. If I need something else, it just take a few steps to get it. I HAVE to wear sturdy tennis/walking shoes or else I suffer the next day due to arthritis. Ugh!

Ok ... me before the straw hat....
=)

I carry a little cardboard tote around with me. It's the kind with the wire handle that you get strawberries in at the produce market. I have 2 sizes of trowels, 1 claw, pencil and markers, scissors, etc., and I usually wear yellow rubber gloves to garden in unless I'm doing digging with a bull nose shovel, then I have my leather gloves on. I get the yellow gloves at Fred's, two pair for a buck and throw them away as soon as they get a hole. They allow me to work with small roots, etc. and keep my hands dry.

Scooter - so you wear a straw hat and you're naked!!?? Boy! Musta been one hot summer last year!! LOL! I have a straw hat I wear sometimes, but it's a tad too large for me (was my grandmother's and I kept it for sentimental reasons), so usually opt for the visor.

Vic - so how many gloves do you go through in a season? I usually go through 3 pairs between Spring and Fall. I use those newer ones with the rubber coating on the palms and fingertips. They seem to last longer than the cloth with the little rubber dots on them.

I keep eyeballing those little garden carts they have at online garden places (Gardener's Supply), but they want over a $100 for them. I'm considering a l'il red wagon next! But afraid the 2-yr old will take it over. She already has to ride in the wheelbarrow whenever I get it out for a job.

What about everyone else?

Actually, the yellow gloves last quite a while. I probably go through a pair every month and a half or so but at 50 cents that's ok. DH built me a wonderful garden cart that I hook up to an atv and drive around. The back gate comes off too for when I do mulching. I LOVE it!

** SCARY THOUGHT !!!**
Hehehehe!
Yer could hear the 'maters screaming in horror all the way across Smalltownrednecktractorville ;~P

LOL! Scooter!!!!

{---jealous of vic's atv & cart ('course I don't need an ATV on my tiny patch o' land)

21 acres and I so wish I could fill it all with flowers :-)

I bid and won a Red Flyer wagon on our PBS auction. I will use it to carry stuff to our community garden two blocks away. I'm sure I paid way more than it is worth. $100 But it was for a good cause. I can pull all my tools and soil/compost to the garden.

I have an old, round Easter basket with a handle, about 12 inches across. It holds my pruning shears, gardening gloves, seed packets, trowel, plant tags/pen, a roll of string, a sharp knife, scissors, my digital cam & cell phone, and anything else I can cram in there.

I also bought one of those Red Flyer wagons, but it is buried under a bunch of junk in the shed :( For moving large, containerized plants, the wagon and hand-truck come in really handy.

Jean

Scooter, I THOUGHT you looked familiar! Didn't I see you in the Hippie commune down in Coconut Grove one year?
LOLOLOLOL
Pati

**Oh, Sister Pati**,
Is that really you ????I remember those wild times =)

My S-I-L gave me a large plastic bucket with a seat/lid. I can put larger things inside, the seat part has some shallow compartments in it and to top it all off, it had belt with it, like a tool belt. So I can put a lot of stuff in, and then when I get tired or have problems getting down and dirty, I can use it as a low seat. I am forever thankful to her. She is so cool anyway.

I must have lots of pockets too!

I like the 'scrub' tops with the nice big pockets, if they button or snap, all the better and they're lightweight and easy to clean too! My new rinseable 'garden clogs' are another hit, no more dusty dirty shoes.

Heading for the garden I usually take the 2 wheeled wheelbarrow with my belted bucket inside plus any big tools.
I know I should start wearing a hat--thanks for the reminder.

Oh, and another biggie--my big Misting Fan on the really hot days--it's really a blessing!

I have one of those 'scrub' tops also and love it. It's looking really ratty now, but who cares.

My husband says I have a gardening glove fedish. I can't pass an area without trying them on or buying some. The problem is that I usually take them off at sometime (to get the pesty weeds or plant) and then put them back on and pretty soon the insides look are dirtier than the out.

One of the best thinks I've found is a cold wet handkerchief tied around my neck. It helps to keep me cool and I always have a jug of water so when it gets too dry I just rewet it and it's ready to go again. It also comes in handy to wipe the sweat from your brow.

Jan -- I'll remember that one come July/Aug here in hot, humid Kansas. Maybe that will make it tolerable to be outdoors the necessary 1/2 - 1 hour each day to water everything in the garden. Good tip!

I just use a bucket. If I'm going to be planting a lot at once I keep bottles of water in the freezer--bottles of ice I guess, LOL but, when it's super hot, the ice melts about the same rate I drink the water, and it's always cold!!

Camera goes out with me a lot too, but I won't leave it outside, I go back and forth for it. I have a thing about pants or shorts with POCKETS... if I'm using scissors or pruners, I put them in my pocket, same with my little shovel. I have so many different sizes of shovels and little forks... plus the big shovel is always nearby too....I have garden gloves but RARELY use them, as my hands show... the lady who does my nails even gave me a pair of garden gloves one time.... LOL

Hubby keeps a box of rubber gloves in his toolbox, and I use those sometimes if I'm pulling weeds, especially poison ivy!

I don't wear a hat, and I don't wear sunglasses.... always have to have good tennis shoes, or I pay the next day.
I'm just boring I guess... one of my friends said to me the other day that her husband was telling her I was ALWAYS outside doing something, every time he drives by... LOL I just hope that when people drive by they see what's blooming, and not what I look like!

Melissa -- you better start wearing a hat and sunglasses!!! Now I know what to send ya for Christmas!!!

My neighbors are all talking about me (I mentioned it in another post of LimeyLisa's I think). The next door neighbor came out on her deck tonight and said, "Brenda! Are you ever gonna be done with your gardening?" "HECK NO!" I answered. A gardener's work is never done. She's obviously not a gardener!!! LOL! Funny thing is they have one of the most beautiful yards in the neighborhood....lush, always something in bloom, lots of little fu-fu's of garden art placed in just the right spot. They were actually my inspiration. But her hubby does it all!! Poor guy! Or should I say "poor gal....doesn't know what she's missing".

Brenda

Na... the sun brightens my hair up in the summer. If I wore a hat, I'd have to resort to something else to keep my hair blonde!

I told Melanie (my friend whose hubby drives by all the time) that she needed some Daylilies, they were easy to take care of, she just needed to water once in a while... her reply--"YOU come plant them then." LOL Her mom and dad live down the road from us, and until about 7 years ago had a commercial greenhouse. The girls had to help so now that Mel is out on her own, she wants no part of any plant! Her mom planted a couple of Ornamental grasses at the end of her driveway, but that is it, and she has such a nice HUGE yard too!!

My gardening attire is usualy whatever Im wearing at the time I decide to go out and dig. I have ruined more clothes this way but I almost never regret it. I have at least 10 pairs of gardening gloves that have never been used, except for my leather pair. I love those things, great for stuff that will hurt like thorns, splinters and blisters when I go to dig up something new. My fingernails always have dirt under them due to never wearing gloves when I plant in an established bed.
I think the only thing I try not to wear is a shirt that shows my dream of "dang I wish I had cleavage", LOL, too many men in this neighborhood to wear a too low cut shirt. But if you check my tan lines you will see that I sometimes dont try too hard. When the gardening urge hits I usualy dont fight it too hard.

LOL!!! Too funny on the shirt selection, Dravencat. Reminds me of a time I didn't realize what bending over was revealing until DH came out and said, "Uhhhhh.....I think the neighbors are getting distracted." Golly!!! Now I pay more attention. Sometimes I'll don my bathing suit top if it's particularly hot out or I'm out for a really long time. Nothing outrageous, just a a regular top that covers the aging middle.