These scary looking things were actually one of the best pairs of gardening gloves I’ve had the pleasure of using. The new Honey Badger Garden gloves may look a little weird, but they withstood hours of gardening without a scratch on them – or on me, which is nothing short of a miracle.
The gloves are constructed with eco-friendly durable “claws” that are affixed to the fingers of either the right or left hand. You can use these claws like gardening tools while weeding. Rake them across the surface of the soil, and you disturb those pesky surface weeds. Plunge the plastic claw fingertips into the soil and use them like a shovel.
The gloves come with two options. In the first option, three middle finger claws are affixed to either the right or left hand of the polyester gloves. The second option offers both hands with claws on the three middle fingers. All of the Honey Badger Garden Gloves have palms dipped in another type of latex, making the palms cut resistant as well as dirt resistant. They did indeed resist both cuts and dirt in my test.
I put my pair to the test on Saturday, October 19 in the vegetable garden here at Seven Oaks. It was time to pull out the awful tomatoes and peppers, so I set to the task with vigor. The gloves were a little small; they are sized for men, but the manufacturer sent me a conversion chart to help me choose my test size. If you’re in doubt and are shopping online, I’d order a size up. If you’re buying them from a local store, you can slip them on to see how they fit.
It took me only a few minutes to get used to the weird clacking from my finger tips, but after I stopped feeling like Freddie Krueger with claws on the end of my right hand, I loved the gloves! They were super grippy, and I especially appreciated how they gripped around my wrists. I always managed to get dirt and grime inside my gloves when I’m pulling up plants or weeding, which sort of defeats the purpose of wearing gloves. In this case, the elasticized cloth around the wrists kept dirt completely out of the gloves.
The garden was damp as I set to work, and I used the claws to pluck up weeds and rotten tomatoes. Rotten tomatoes have to be some of the nastiest things in the garden, but the claws rinsed clean from all the debris with just a little water. My hands stayed dry, warm and clean.
I had to cut the cloth strips holding my tomato plants to the stakes, and I slipped with the scissors. The Honey Badger gloves did indeed resist the tips of the scissors and didn’t show a scratch. I was also pulling up heavy metal stakes, which had sharp tips, and the gloves protected my hands without ripping. I was able to use both hands despite the claws, and in fact, I quickly got used to the claws on my right hand. They did not get in the way at all when I switched tasks to mowing the lawn or pushing the wheelbarrow.
I am always pushing the index finger through on my gardening gloves, especially on the right hand, but because the claws are affixed to these fingertips, I have a feeling my Honey Badger Gardening Gloves will last a lot longer than other pairs that I own.
All in all, I really liked these gloves and would definitely use them again. My only complaint – and it’s a mild complaint common to all latex or foam product gardening gloves – is the smell on my hands after I remove the gloves. Even washing my hands with fragrant lavender and chamomile soap didn’t entirely remove the chemical odor of the latex, but so be it. If I can garden without getting my hands filthy, and with a built-in tool like the glove’s claws, I’m all for it.
The Honey Badger Garden Glove can be purchased at garden centers nationwide. I received this pair of Honey Badger Garden Gloves from the company in exchange for a fair review of the product.
The link below will take you to Amazon, where I have an affiliate account. If you purchase any items via this link, I receive a small commission, which does not affect your price in any way.
The Honey Badger Garden Glove: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars from this gardener who is always rough on her gardening gloves!
