Yes, I wash my garden gloves. When I have a pair that's comfortable (and that I haven't managed to lose), I think they are worth washing. Also, most of my garden gloves are washable leather, so I know they will last quite a while if I do take care of them.

" . . . Or a reason not to?" Well, if I've gotten into poison ivy with them I may well throw them out.

Babs

I'm not obsessive about it, but I do throw them in the washer machine every so often. Usually it's after working at the farm planting lettuce. We usually pour some fish emulsion in the planting hole, so the soil is wet and my gloves get really muddy.

I don't wash them as much from working in the garden. Mine are usually the cheap knit gloves with rubber palms, and are usually already in some state of disintegration, so I try to wash them as little as possible. I think sometimes the dirt caked on them reinforces them, lol.

:)
Dee

When they get really dirty I tend to stick the garden hose inside them and blast the dirt out - either through the knit or back out the wrist hole. Or sometimes I'll wash my hands with the gloves on (old bicycle glove habit).

Somehow I don't like to put them in the washing machine with in-house stuff.

Claire

I don't have gardening gloves, only a pair of tough leather work gloves which I use for cutting briar bushes or handling cement blocks or barbed wire. I think I've washed them once or twice when they got muddy, but usually they don't need it.

I find it very hard to do any kind of work with my hands while wearing gloves. I garden bare handed and scrub my hands with a brush and warm water from the garden hose.

I'm thinking about WHY? Partly because I usually throw them on the porch steps during the day and then on a bench on the porch at the end of the day. I don't like to have to sweep/clean the dirt off the porch. Maybe I should start wiping the gloves on the boot mat....

Claire

I have a pair of elk skin gardening gloves I bought years ago on the corner of Lexington and 42nd st! 5 dollars!!! Every year I put them on and slather with saddle soap, and then oil when dry. Sometimes during the season. I am very attached to these gloves! /Abi

Gee, I thought I was tired today, but now I know I am. I thought Abi had a pair of "elf skin" gloves at first glance.... yikes...

:)
Dee

" . . . Or a reason not to?" Well, if I've gotten into poison ivy with them I may well throw them out.

LOL I only seem to wash my gloves when I have gotten into some poison ivy! I just washed a pair today and have the rash everywhere but my hands! I washed them with the old shower curtain that I used as a tarp to haul away the neglected perennial bed detritus with sneaky PI. Hot water does the trick.

I am very hard on gloves and tend to have multiple pairs in use. If I want to wear clean gloves, I just break out a fresh pair!

I am sorting through garden stufff that was packed away for the winter. After washing two pairs of "foxgloves" I found a third pair. I love the way this brand feels, although they are not wet proof, and I've worn the fingertips out on some by using my fingers as a garden claw to dig things out of hard soil.

I know they are expensive!
Marie

I use cheap (2 for $1 from 99c stores) knitted gloves with rubber[ised] palm and fingers. They don't last long, approximately 2 weeks the most, but I consider 10 bucks for a season is well spent.
Though I don't have to be worry about the manicure :-))