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The Sensuous Garden Tool: Hands

© Carol Wallace

You can always tell real gardeners by their hands. It's not the much-spoken of dirt under the fingernails. That, after all, can be scrubbed and scraped away. Nor is it the calluses that give them away. Calluses come in any number of ways, and prying frost-heaved rocks from fresh spring soil is only one of them.

But if you look carefully at the index finger of a gardener's dominant hand you will see what appears to be a slightly dirty patch, right at the first joint. Shake hands and you will feel how that spot is slightly roughened and hard. No amount of scrubbing will remove that stain; it is a weeder's callus, formed by hours of tedious pulling, colored by leaking clorophyll and clay. It is the gardener's badge of honor. I wear mine with pride.

It begins slowly in spring, when we dash eagerly outside, lured by the first pale rays of sunshine and the emerging heads of crocus. In those early days, even the weeds seem charming -- but the idea of plunging hands into soil and eradicating them is too alluring to be ignored. Into the dirt we scrabble, fingers growing numb in the still-icy soil, happy to be back in contact with the earth. When we finally head in, there is a small sore spot at that first joint, which continues to irritate until it finally hardens. There is also the callus that invariably forms under my wedding ring from grasping my hand tools and trying to pry things from the earth. And the callus that forms at the base of my palm, starting as a blister and inevitably toughening as the season progresses.

You won't find any information of preventing gardener's hands online. Plenty of advice on callused and blistered feet, but the hands are ignored. Why? It's a cultural phenomenon. Blistered feet cause discomfort and demand a cure. Blistered hands eventually harden into something more symbolic -- a sign of honest labor.

Of course the initial discomfort can be alleviated by wearing gloves. There are gardening gloves for all occasions, from little white cotton ones for formal garden parties to heavy duty cowhide for rock handling. I own several pair, from light cotton to a designer pair in luxuriant goatskin. The only time I managed to keep them on for longer than the first three weeds was when I had six stitches in my index finger and the doctor drew me hideous word pictures of blood poisoning and amputation should I fail to wear them. It is very difficult to get the right feel for that exact point on the stem of a weed that will allow you to actually pull it from the earth, rather than merely ripping off its head, when sensitive fingertips are swathed in latex or leather. Hoeing may be faster, and more efficient, but it's your fingers that will allow you to see the incredible root system of a bindweed and keep you from becoming complacent about it's removal.

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