Gardener's Tools for Skin Care

By July, gardener's hands and nails are showing signs of doing "just one more thing" without gloves. Fingers and wrists are a little grumpy in the morning from repetitive weed-pulling action. Arms and calves are spotted with poison ivy and bug bites.

What are your favorite products for combating gardener wear?

I confess to using Deep Woods or Backwoods strength bug bite protection. I know I'm supposed to use something more health-food-store-ish but haven't found anything effective enough. Do you know a product that works as well?

The Thymes

sent me a sample of their deep-cleansing hand scrub and replenishing hand cream and they are wonderful.

Their site calls the scent "clipped grass, aromatic parsley, cool watercress, dewy moss and a pinch of pink peppercorn."

That sounds like the wine descriptions of a hint of this and that which I can never taste - but the cream has a pleasing, soft, clean scent.

The hand scrub is refined enough to make my hands look renewed without being torn, if you know what I mean. Some of the scrubs on the market seem to remove a little too much.

The hand cream soaked in immediately and left no watery or greasy residue - I could use my hands right away without sort of waiting for them to dry. The skin softening effect lasted most of the day.

The other product I use religiously now is Burt's Bees Poison Ivy Soap. The trick for me was learning that I have to use it every time I come in to shower, not just when I think I have contacted poison ivy.

Even if I still get a few bumps, I continue to wash arms and legs with the soap and it dries up any small rash that I get. So far, it has replaced the prescription medication I have had to use in the past.

So what works for you?