When I prune my roses in spring I use the heaviest leather type. They are they only ones none of my roses have never managed to cut trough, pretty close to 100%. I often use no gloves at all, but when I need to lift a bunch of thorny off cuts, or handle canes a bit more than lightly I put on these. I actually think they are welding gloves, and they reach half way up to my elbow, nothing like the ones I see for gardeners. I have several types of gloves, but all I really use are these heavy ones, a pair of lighter leather gloves, and no gloves at all. I mostly use bare hands when I plant, and dig holes. I have started using glycerin hand cream when my hands get too dry and sore. I am a man, so I don't feel too guilty when gardening or work shows on my hands. I have to admit that it takes a day or two before all traces of gardening are gone when I don't use gloves, which I agree, really isn't that good. Even though I use soap and water several times, it's stuck there for a while.

I use news paper, old rags and my bare hands. I am tired of ruining good gloves. I use duck tape and elmer's glue on me occasionally. I let the glue dry and pull it off, and off comes the glochids.The old magazine and rags usually too just fine. The thing is, leather is skin and needles go straight through skin. There are some cactus gloves that look like rubber gloves with a brush molded on them that work amazing , I hear. I am too cheap to splurge on them.

Though spreading insects and diseases is very likely, I don't know of many gardeners who 'sanitize' themselves as they move from area to area. ;-) I know that I don't!! But I am very consciuos of it if pruning diseased plants, for example, and keep my pruning equipment sprayed with alcohol. If I had a lawn disease in the front yard, I would do EVERYTHING I could to prevent it from getting to the backyard. I've seen lawn companies carry brown patch and other diseases from one client to the next, when a little bit of care could have prevented it. Many pathogens and insect pests are fairly ubiquitous anyway, and it makes more sense to do everything you can to keep your plants healthy by good cultural practices, than by sterilizing yourself from one plant to the next. Common sense, awareness of which diseases might be infectious, and a little bit of care go an awfully long way to prevent small problems from becoming large ones. Does that make sense?

I'm sure everyone who bought a Bluestar expects more than a pile of fire to cook on or they could have used a BBQ pit. If they all they wanted was a big burner, they could get a wok burner. They bought ranges and have the right to expect all components to work in a reasonable way. For Bluestar service to be so dismissive of customers concerns is unconscionable. With a gas oven you have every right to expect certain things. It may not have as narrow a range of temperature as an electric oven, but even the least expensive non convection oven should keep within 25 degrees of the setting. The heating and cooling cycles are controlled by the thermostat. The actual swing is determined by the tolerances of the thermostat. This is a known number by the manufacturer. It is not a mystery. Some may tolerate a 10 degree swing and others 25 degrees. If you have too much of a swing, anything with high sugar content will burn. The narrower the tolerance, the more often the burner/element will cycle. It should be calibratable. Yes you can easily figure out that your oven runs a little hot and off set the thermometer but why should you, especially with what you paid? If it has a calibration screw, it is there for a reason. Calibrating an oven is not rocket science and should be able to be done with someone with fairly basic skills. If what you normally bake/roast is not coming out right, you can buy an inexpensive thermometer and get an idea of what is going on in your oven. I bought two at a restaurant supply for $3.50 and they work well unless dropped or mistreated. In my job,I work daily with thermometers, and even if you have a more expensive digital thermometer, it is only good if calibrated correctly. I would avoid a mercury thermometer because if it breaks then you have mercury spill in your oven. I would also expect a griddle to keep a fairly even temp. It is not a large griddle with multiple burners and thermostats. It is not a french top. It has a long narrow burner designed to provide even heat over the entire griddle area. This makes two columns of heat across 11-12 inches. This should also be enhanced by using a material for the surface that is heat conductive. Once it has been on awhile,it should be pretty even. Concerns about it should at least be addressed by the service person and it should be looked at. There may be something plugged making the flame uneven. Bluestar's regular burner is star shaped with the idea of providing even heat. Even with cheap pans, will cook evenly, surely they have designed the griddle to cook evenly too. I do think GW people have higher expectations. They read and have tried to make educated choices. If something doesn't seem right with your appliances-get to the bottom of it. It may be it's just a little different from your last appliance but it may have something wrong that is easily fixed/adjusted, if you can get the right service. I have probably cooked on 9-10 ranges(each one for years) over my lifetime and each did as they were supposed to do. I never gave them a second thought. When we remodeled our kitchen a few years ago, we bought a very expensive range and wall oven. Neither oven worked. In my case after coming to the set temp, the oven temp drifted down by 200 degrees from the set temp. Nothing would cook. They first tried to tell me that was the way it was supposed to be "so your food won't burn". Burn? It won't even cook! The manufacturer could not fix either oven, after many "fixes" and they bought them back. If you are happy with the way your appliance cooks/bakes-great, buy if you're not happy, don't just put up with it.