Whether you’re a serious gardener working daily among your vegetable plants, fruit trees, or flowers, or a more casual gardener with a few container plants or window boxes, you need a good pair of gardening sleeves.
Gardening sleeves offer needed protection to your arms, shielding them from overexposure to the sun, as well as from insect bites and issues with other garden pests, and also from thorns or other sharp edges of your plants.
Read on for a look at the best gardening sleeves available today to make your growing of fruits, vegetables, or flowers more pleasant and healthy.
Our Top Picks
Best Overall:
Zitu Ischyros Cut-Resistant Arm Sleeves
Most Protective:
IMENORY Kevlar Arm Sleeves
Budget-Friendly:
STGOOD Cut Resistant Sleeves
Best Overall
Zitu Ischyros Cut-Resistant Arm Sleeves
Constructed of high-strength polyethylene, the Zity Ischyros cut-resistant arm sleeve truly lives up to its name and makes a great choice as one of the best gardening sleeves than can also be used for other work around the home or on the job.
The Zitu Ischyros is designed to be both elastic and breathable, providing a tight fit while at the same time keeping your arms cool.
Additionally, this choice for one of the best gardening sleeves on the market is easy to clean by simply hand- or machine-washing in cold water and then just hanging it up to dry.
Product Features
Designed with a thumb slot, the Zitu Ischyros arm sleeves come in either 14-inch or 18-inch lengths to offer an abundance of protection against cuts and scrapes to backyard gardeners.
Measured lengthwise at a little over four inches before stretching, these best gardening sleeves are ready to fit a variety of arm sizes.
Pros
- Fit is snug, but not tight
- Great protection for older people with skin problems or people who bruise easily
- Good protection against poison ivy and other potential irritants
Cons
- Special attention may be needed to ensure correct sizing
Most Protective
IMENORY Kevlar Arm Sleeves
![Kevlar-Sleeves Arm Protection Sleeves with Thumb Hole, [18" Inch Long, 9"-14" Wide] Safety Arm Guide Cut, Heat Resistant Protective Mechanic Sleeves for Men, Women 1Pair - Black [Newest 2022]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51J4-kaRdfL._SL500_.jpg)
Manufactured with Kevlar, the same material used in bulletproof vests, and combined with glass fibers for increased protection, the Imenory arm sleeves easily earn a place in the list of best gardening sleeves.
Unlike other gardening sleeves that made this list, the Imenory sleeves also cover the hands, all the way down to the middle of the fingers, to boost the protection they offer to the wearer.
In addition to their extra length, the Imenory sleeves are constructed with a double layer of their high-strength material, ensuring more than adequate protection for backyard gardeners, and earning them a spot on this list of the best gardening sleeves.
Product Features
Among the top features of these best gardening sleeves is the ease with which they can be washed. All that it takes is a bit of soap and water, or if you prefer, the Imenory sleeves can be dry-cleaned.
Regardless of how you may choose to clean these sleeves, they will retain both their strength and their stretch, even with repeated washing, as befits a listing among the best gardening sleeves.
Pros
- Can be worn comfortably all-day
- Excellent protection for people who bleed easily
Cons
- The one-size-fits-all claim may be overstated
- May feel itchy to some wearers
- Easy care
Budget-Friendly
STGOOD Cut Resistant Sleeves
The STGOOD cut-resistant protective sleeves, more than suitable for gardening use, prove that a good gardening sleeve need not be particularly expensive gardening sleeve.
At 18 inches in length, the STGOOD sleeves are a standard length offered by many other manufacturers, and the thumb-hole design offers stability to the sleeves during use.
Product Features
In terms of the cut protection offered by the STGOOD sleeves, one user review is particularly helpful. The user reported that after running a very sharp pocket knife across the sleeves several times, the knife didn’t cut into the sleeves.
Pros
- Light and comfortable
- Impressive resistance to cuts
- Comfortable to wear on hot days
Cons
- The one-size-fits-all claim is misleading
Schwer ANSI A6 Sleeves
While other arm sleeves suitable for gardening use contain glass fiber as part of their cut-resistant material, the Schwer ANSI A6 sleeves combine polyethylene with tungsten wire for improved cutting resistance and flexibility, making them some of the best gardening sleeves available.
Product Features
The 18-inch length of the Schwer ANSI A6 sleeves provides great protection against garden hazards for most people, and gardeners will particularly appreciate the protection against ultraviolet rays from the sun that is provided by this Schwer product, some of the best gardening sleeves you’ll find.
Pros
- Smooth fabric doesn’t catch like some other sleeves
- Also helpful for other tasks, like working on cars
Cons
- May be too hot for summertime wear
- Proper sizing may be difficult
TZT Sports Arm Sleeves
While they do provide a funky tie-dyed appearance, the TZT Sports Arm Sleeves are a very serious entry on this list of the best gardening sleeves. Offering a breathable and cool experience to users, these arm sleeves also block the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.
Product Features
In addition to offering protection against thorns and other dangers in your backyard garden, the TZT sleeves include a compression capability. While not strictly necessary for gardening sleeves, compression capabilities can help boost circulation, reducing muscle tension and potential pain.
There are, however, some serious reasons for many people not to consider a compression sleeve as a gardening sleeve, a subject explored later in this post.
Pros
- Good cooling of arms
- Stand up well to frequent use
- Great protection from mosquitoes
Cons
- Sizing runs smaller than expected
- May be too thin for some uses
Buyers’ Guide for Gardening Sleeves
There are a number of factors you’ll need to consider in determining which are the best gardening sleeves for your needs. First, you’ll want to choose the material out of which your sleeves are made. Generally speaking, you’ll have three choices — leather, rubber, or nylon.
Leather will obviously be among the more expensive options for gardening sleeves, and leather also will require special care such as hand-washing with a mixture of lukewarm water and soap flakes.
For proper drying of leather sleeves, you’ll need to put them on periodically as they are air-drying so that they retain their best fit on your arms.
Rubber and nylon each offer similar advantages when used as the material for gardening sleeves. Both provide excellent protection from cuts while gardening and both provide good ventilation to keep your arms from getting too hot on summer days.
In general, you’ll want the most durable gardening sleeves you can afford. That’s because your sleeves likely will be subjected to some rough conditions in your garden and, at a minimum, should be resistant to damage from sharp garden tools and thorns on weeds and plants.
Sleeve Length
In choosing your best gardening sleeves, you’ll also have to decide whether you prefer half-length or full-length sleeves. Full-length sleeves extend from the hand to the forearm, with half-length sleeves stopping at mid-forearm.
Obviously, full-length sleeves will provide greater protection from cuts, scratches, and sun damage, but the downside is that full-length sleeves could get uncomfortably hot on warm days.
Sizing
The size of your gardening sleeves will depend on how big or small your arms are. If you want an exact fit, choose a size that is slightly smaller than your arm circumference measurement.
If you want a loose fit, choose a set of gardening sleeves that is slightly bigger than your arm circumference measurement. This way it will still protect your arms from scratches but won’t restrict movement or cause discomfort while wearing it over long periods of time.
More Sizing Tips
If you plan to wear your gardening sleeves for a long day of tending to your crops or flowers, you should choose a size that is somewhat larger than your arm circumference for sustained comfort.
As another sizing tip, you should remember that at some point — particularly when the weather turns cool — you’ll likely want to wear your sleeves over a flannel shirt or maybe even a sweatshirt.
In the end, it is extremely important that you not buy sleeves that are too tight. If you do, there’s a chance that, even if they aren’t compression-capable sleeves, they could slow your blood circulation.
UPF Rating
If one reason for your consideration of purchasing gardening sleeves is worry about being your arms exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet rays, you’ll want to choose sleeves with a high Ultraviolet Protection Factor (UPF).
UPF is a measure of the amount of ultraviolet radiation that reaches the skin through the sleeves’ fabric.
A fabric with a UPF of 50 or above is an excellent choice, having the ability to block nearly 100% of the sun’s rays. Buying a set of gardening sleeves with a high UPF will mean that you won’t have to stop working periodically to remove your sleeves to apply sunscreen.
Protection From Water
If you’ll be using your gardening sleeves while you’re watering your garden or wetting your plants’ leaves as an insect or pest control measure, you’ll want to make sure they will be able to shed water, or at least keep it from penetrating to your skin.
If wetness is a concern for you, you’ll want to pay attention to the number of layers of fabric in the gardening sleeves you’re considering for purchase.
If wetness is a concern, your gardening sleeves should have at least three layers of fabric to ensure they are among the best gardening sleeves for your needs.
FAQs on Gardening Sleeves
Beyond the basic considerations of price and styling, you may have other questions about how to pick the best gardening sleeves for your particular situation. Read on for some additional help in making a decision on a set of gardening sleeves.
How Important Is Price in Choosing Gardening Sleeves?
In most instances, the price you pay for your gardening sleeves will be a direct reflection of the materials from which they are made, the quality of their construction, and the level of UV and other protection they offer.
In general, you should expect to pay anywhere from around $10 to close to $40 for a set of gardening sleeves. But with careful attention, you might be able to find a high-quality pair of the best gardening sleeves at a comparatively low price. so be sure to shop around before making a final purchase.
What Color of Gardening Sleeve Should I Choose?
Obviously, the color of your gardening sleeves will reflect your personal preferences, and there are a variety of colors and designs from which to make your choice.
From a purely aesthetic viewpoint, you should recognize that brightly colored gardening sleeves, while they are a distinctive choice and certainly can be among the best gardening sleeves, may be susceptible to noticeable fading.
As they come into long-term contact with sunlight, or accidental contact with fertilizers and other gardening products, your colorful gardening sleeves almost certainly will lose some of their luster.
Should I Choose a Compression Sleeve for Gardening?
While one of the choices on this list of the best gardening sleeves offers a compression capability, there are some issues of which you need to be aware before making the choice of a compression sleeve for gardening.
First, compression sleeves can cause an increase in blood pressure and heart rate, circumstances that can be problematic for older gardeners or gardeners with pre-existing health conditions.
If you do opt for compression gardening sleeves, you should wear them for no more than four hours, and you should remain mindful of your physical condition while using them to avoid any medical problems.
Wrapping up the Best Gardening Sleeves
We hope this post has educated you on the best gardening sleeves and has led you to a set of gardening sleeves best suited to your style of gardening work. Want more garden content? Visit our gardening page for in-depth guides, explainer posts, and great ideas!