Putting the Ultimax gardening gloves to the test

* This item was gifted by Town & Country
It must be said I’m a fan of pink gardening gloves. My regular go to gardening gloves are pink, and are also by Town & Country. They’re reliable, but somehow I do seem to go through quite a few, and I’m not quite sure why. While I do always wear gloves while gardening, I don’t think I go through them due to some kind of extreme gardening, it just seems to be the way it goes.

I always revert to buying the same sort - or style? (do gardening gloves have style, now that’s a whole other question I’m sure!), because I know they fit. They don’t have overly long fingers which mean they’re useless, and of course they’re pink. I mentioned before I like a pink gardening glove or two. Actually two gloves are better than one…

So when Wilkinson Sword offered me a different type of (thankfully pink) gardening gloves, I was sceptical. But then again, they were pink and so I thought I could definitely give them a go. And last weekend I did.

I needed to dig my way into the greenhouse, which had become another storage space for our winter garden. And while I wasn’t expecting it to be mucky, I know what I’m like, and so the gloves went on. The blurb on the label says that these Ultimax gloves have “an innovative design offering an extremely close fit for unequaled dexterity.”

The palm of the gloves do look very high tech - there’s textured pads for grip and extra protection. And while the photo below looks as if there’s holes in the fingertips of my first two fingers, there isn’t, that’s the texture pads. You can see it more clearly on the thumb in the photo below.

The gloves did fit well, the velcro fastening at the wrist kept them on, and I was able to pick things up that perhaps I wouldn’t have in my other pink gloves. I’m not sure I’d be able to sow tiny seeds in these gloves, but then again I’m not sure I’d want to. Even me, who’s someone not keen on having mucky hands, thinks that sometimes you have to feel the soil, and sowing seeds is one of those times.

Thankfully there was nothing nasty or slimy lurking in my greenhouse and it wasn’t long before I’d cleared a space and found a new home for the things I’d moved. Something - a squirrel perhaps - had been in the greenhouse as pots had been disturbed and overturned, but whatever it was seems to have moved on.

The only downside for me with these gloves is the labels (see the photo above). They’re quite large, and while I’m glad this size label isn’t on the inside as that would most likely be uncomfortable, I’m not sure what value these labels add. They stand out literally and visually and I suspect I’ll be cutting them off as I found them distracting - but then again I’m not much of a label lover, and regularly cut them out of clothes too, so it could just be me, but if they were half the size then I think they’d be less intrusive.

I’ve still some more to do in here - including sowing some seeds and rearrange the benches so there’s more space to move in here, and hopefully incorporate some more growing space too. But these new Ultimax pink gloves are a keeper, and on their first outing had quite a workout.

Overall, it’s a thumbs up from me.

* While this item was gifted by Town & Country, I was under no obligation to share it here on my blog.

It's a bucket!

* This item was gifted by Spear & Jackson

A collapsible and compact bucket at that. And while I never thought I’d rave quite so much about a collapsible bucket, I also have to apologise for the title of this post. As soon as the phrase popped into my mind, it reminded me of the Brian Conley “it’s a puppet” catchphrase from the 90s, which was big in our family. But rave about a bucket, I am - and of the two things I’ve just mentioned, be grateful it’s the bucket.

And yes, it really is a bucket, not a frisbee, although…

Seriously, when I saw it my first thoughts were “that’d be great for under the sink.” Our buckets have been relegated to the shed, which is all well and good when you can plan, but when you can’t it’s not so good to have your bucket supply a hundred yards away. We’ve not been in an emergency bucket situation (thankfully) but I think MOH knows that if we were, it’d be his job to hunt the bucket down.

Anyway, back to the actual bucket which is easy to pop up and down, it’s one of the new products from Spear and Jackson and well, can be used like a bucket. It’s made from silicone, retails for £8.99, has a pouring lip and a handle (like buckets do) and a potential useful hangy-up thing. Because even though I’ve said it’ll be useful to keep it under the sink, there’s still very little room there so hanging it on the back of the door could be the way to go. I’ve a feeling that MOH will be keen to make this work, especially when he learns of his bucket fetching duties, should the need arise.

A BIT BLURRED - BUT THE BUCKET MATCHES MY POM POM SLIPPERS, AND THAT MAKES ME SMILE

And one more thing that made me smile - so much so that all the pictures I have are slightly blurred - the bucket matches my slippers, how serendipitous is that?

* While this item was gifted by Spear & Jackson, I was under no obligation to share it here on my blog.

Oil and vinegar

Or as my new bottles say Olio and Acete, a recent purchase as a momento from our break in Italy along with a new butter dish. And not surprisingly I’m embracing the yellow, so where better to photograph them than on the dresser in a particularly yellow spot.   

We often bring something home from holiday to remind us of our trip, and quite often it’s something that catches our eye, rather than something that’s planned. But it’s always something we’ll use, or have a use for. 

On this trip it was very nearly a decorative plate that I fell for on our visits to the local town of Todi. In the maze of a town, or our circuitous route around it anyway, even I was surprised I managed to find the shop again on our second visit. But of course I managed to.  

After some longing and oohing over the ceramics, we asked the price and tried not to look too shocked. It was pricier than we expected, and I wasn’t sure if it would fit where I had in mind at home, let alone in our hand luggage. So with a last look we walked away, but even MOH was getting smitten and said to buy it if you want it.  

But I resisted, as I really wasn’t sure on the size. Although a new plan was forming, so back we headed to the shop again.  Only this time it was our final purchases that I had in mind.  

We’d seen many sets as we perused the shops in town, but none this colour and none squished like this so they nestled together. Clever, huh?

And then came the breakthrough.  We needed a new butter dish.  Yes, needed. (The glaze on ours has gone and butter seeps through the pottery and leaves a greasy mess on our kitchen worktop - so I mean needed).

But, I didn’t want to be without one. I’m a butter fan, and don’t like it fridge cold and so our butter is out and at room temperature year-round.  So when the butter dish hd been decided on too, and I’d agreed to get rid of the old one, MOH couldn’t quite believe his ears. He’d proffered replacement butter dishes over the years, but all had been rejected. Until now. 

And it was worth the wait. It’s quickly replaced the seeping dish in my affections, but sssh! don’t tell MOH, I think I’m only going to crock** half of the dish, as I realised the top half would make a great cover for cheese...

** and yes, to crock - that’s a verb, to break crockery to use as drainage “crocks” in plant pots. A great way to use old crockery as it’s satisfying to smash (as long as you look out for flying pieces) and when you next empty your pot, you never quite know what memory you will quite literally unearth!