Town & Country weedmaster floral gloves May 2012

These patterned cotton gloves have a nitrile coating to improve grip on the palm. They claim to be comfortable and washable and offer enough protection for weeding, but with enough flexibility for planting seeds.

Comfortable with a good grip

These thin, close-fitting gloves are great for delicate tasks such as planting seeds. The nitrile coating means they give a better grip than cotton or plastic gloves and are more comfortable, particularly as they have a knitted-cotton wrist band. We tried the medium pair and they were a good fit for a ladies size 7 hand. The pattern is visible all over the glove, though whether it's attractive is very much down to personal taste. There is a damask pattern alternative. If you pick one of the brighter colour options you're unlikely to lose them in the garden.

Resilient for weeding

The gloves offer enough protection for weeding, but while the palms are water resistant, they won’t keep your hands dry if you’re weeding in the wet. We were impressed with the level of protection they offer, which is just about sufficient for dealing with the soft, prickly leaves of an ornamental berberis or mahonia. However, we wouldn’t use them for tackling more thorny shrubs such as holly or hawthorn.

Machine washable

These gloves say ‘wash in warm water’, so we put them through a one hour, 40 degree washing-machine cycle. We were very pleased to see that the gloves clean up nicely without shrinking, and the nitrile coating remained stuck firmly to the surface.

Which? Gardening verdict

Pros: great grip for weeding and flexible enough for planting fiddly seeds; inexpensive at £4.99 and washable

Cons: limited protection for tougher tasks; only available in floral or damask designs, which aren't to everyone's taste

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