Why PPE Matters More Than You Think in the Garden
It starts off simple enough, you step out to pull a few weeds or trim back that unruly shrub out the front. The sun’s shining, birds are chatting away in the trees, and before you know it, you’ve spent three hours deep in the garden. Sounds ideal, right? It often is, until you nick your hand on a rusty old fence, get a face full of flying bark, or end the day sneezing from who-knows-what in the mulch.
We get it. At Flourish and Bloom Gardening, we’ve spent enough time in other people’s gardens (and our own) to know this truth: PPE – personal protective equipment – isn’t just for tradies or people using power tools. It’s for anyone with their hands in the soil. Whether you’re potting plants on your balcony or pruning a towering camellia hedge, you’re working with sharp tools, chemicals, unpredictable plants, and all the little critters that call your garden home.
You don’t always see the risks straight away. Gardening feels harmless. Therapeutic, even. But the more time you spend out there, the more you realise it comes with its fair share of hazards:
- Bacteria in the soil that can infect cuts
- Fine particles from potting mix that aren’t great for your lungs
- Chemicals that can irritate your skin or eyes
- Thorny plants that seem to jump out and grab you
- Slippery tools, splinters, or rusted wire lying around
We’ve all had that “it’ll be fine” moment, grabbing a handful of mulch with bare hands, or deciding the safety glasses are too much effort for a quick trim. But all it takes is one slip-up for a small task to turn into a nasty surprise.
So what’s worth wearing? Nothing fancy. Just smart choices:
- Decent gloves. Not the cheap kind that fall apart after one wet afternoon, but breathable, sturdy gloves that protect against both thorns and grime.
- Protective eyewear. Especially when you’re pruning, sawing, or whipper-snipping. A flying twig to the eye? It’s as bad as it sounds.
- Covered shoes. Preferably something with grip, because wet grass and garden tools don’t mix well with thongs.
- Long sleeves and pants. In summer, go for lightweight fabric to keep the sun off and the scratches down.
- Dust mask. If you’re mixing fertiliser or potting soil, a quick bit of protection for your lungs can make a huge difference; especially if you’re prone to allergies.
We’re not saying you need to dress like you’re working a hazmat site. But taking five minutes to throw on a few basics can save you days of discomfort: or a trip to the GP. And once it becomes habit, it doesn’t feel like a chore. You’ll probably start to wonder why you ever gardened without it.
Truth is, gardening should be relaxing, not risky. And a bit of PPE helps keep it that way. You’ll be free to focus on the satisfying stuff: watching a bed of flowers bloom after weeks of care or finally digging up that patch you’ve been meaning to fix for months.
At the end of the day, PPE isn’t about being overly cautious. It’s about being smart so you can keep doing what you love, without the cuts, scrapes, or surprises. So go ahead; dig, plant, prune, and weed to yo
