Anyone wear safety equipment whilst gardening?

Hi,

Whilst planting my new boarder yesterday I got whipped in the eye by a blade of Phormium Yellow Wave. It REALLY hurt & didn't get better overnight. I spent a few hours this morning at A&E and have a Corneal Abrasion which is basically a deep scratch across my pupil. It should heal well & I'll be going back in a few days for the hospital to check my eye is recovering.

Anyway, I'm wondering is anyone uses any protective equipment outside of gloves & sturdy shoes... I'll be wearing safety glasses from now on when moving plants/cutting hedges.

Luckily I had finished planting all the new shrubs before the grass attacked me!!

Eric

 

Ouch Eric, glad to hear you are all right!

The main gardening hazard for me is doing my back in, it has happened twice in my life and honestly, it's the worst non-life-threatening pain there is.

Sharp bits flying around one's eyes is a serious concern, so far I have learnt to do certain tasks wearing my glasses rather than contact lenses which are usually more convenient when gardening. Eyes are too precious.

But otherwise I just accept the scratches, bruises and the ridiculous tan lines.

 

@Eric. I did something similar with a bamboo leaf, hurt more than a little for a couple of days, but did clear up with no problems, this was despite wearing glasses.

 

Well, yes. I'm never in the garden without steel capped clogs or shoes, usually the former because I am a peasant… Gloves, always! Not gardening gloves, which I find next to useless, but proper work gloves. Even hearing protection when I'm using the mower or other petrol driven machinery. That even applies to some electric powered machines.

 

I usually wear my sunglasses when strimming, I did have a pair of very expensive varifocals that I used to use,they were no use for anything else, but they fell off and I remember the noise they made as they went through the mower.

 

Hope your eye heals well @Eric.

To my shame I wear flip flops for strimming ,climbing trees to top them and always chance my arm whilst tackling Roses even though I have gauntlets and all that I should use but never do.

 

Ooops, I had better go get out of my dressing gown and sandals. When is the next nude gardening day?

Seriously, I wear appropriate clothing and anything else I need depending on the job(s) I'm doing.... Sitting in the garden now, listening to Pink Floyd in just my dressing gown and sandals but they'll be coming off once the hot tub is up to temperature!

 

You’re a ‘one’

 

Safety gear removing decking earlier this year, tracky bottoms vs crowbar

 

I wear bulk standard gardening gloves most of the time. I find that they dont protect me from anything sharp. I also find it difficult to do anything intricate so I then take them off. I would prefer to work in long sleeves to protect my arms but at this time of year that is impractical.

G.