favorite garden shoes

[tomf]

My wife and I love our Mucks, they are rubber but have a lining so your feet do not sweat like in rubber boots. We have the shoe ones that slip on and off. When they are muddy we just hose them down. Do you guys have boots or shoes that you use in the garden and like?

[bg]

Barefoot, I dislike wearing shoes when I don't have to. Though sometimes it'll be cheap flip flops, for when it's muddy after watering... but only sometimes.

[lorax]

I've got croc-offs (cheap local croc knockoffs) that I love for the garden. Like other shoes mentioned, they're hose-n-go.

I'd love to be able to go barefoot, but my garden is a haven for stinging nettles....

[bg]

bah stinging things >.> I have something like a chinese tallow tree right outside my door, and it has just been visited by bees, wasps, butterflies and such this last week.... which means, soon the ground and my patio will be filled with a ton broken shells. But right now the most annoying stinging I have to face are the mosquitoes that gather around my garden -_-'

Still, I dislike wearing shoes lol! I've never been stung with a stinging nettle though, can't say I'm not curious as to how that feels.

[lorax]

.... I've never been stung with a stinging nettle though, can't say I'm not curious as to how that feels.

Let's just say that there's a good reason that ortigacion (being beaten with stinging nettles) is a popular punishment for wrongdoers down here. Caught you stealing? Well, it's a beating with nettles for you before we give you to the cops!

With the nettles that grow in my garden, being stung is at best very unpleasant, and at worst sort of like being scalded with oil, except that no scars are left, and the pain persists for quite a lot longer.

[Kisal]

I have L. L. Bean duck shoes. I really like them, especially in the rainy season.

[tomf]

As a kid in the Boston area I went without shoes most of the summer, my feet were like leather. I just liked not having them on. Now I am a tender foot.

[applestar]

Reviving this thread because I need new gardening boots.

I like to wear tall boots in my garden because early in the spring, there are ground spiders EVERYWHERE and later on, like now, the lawn is full of bees (bumble bees mostly, now joined by honeybees, but some of them are carpenter bees, plus tons of little beneficial hover flies and wasps) visiting the ground ivy in full bloom as well as dandelions. By the time the clover in the lawn takes over, the bees will have mellowed a bit but right now, they get buzzy if you walk through them. I think it's the male carpenter bees that will actually break off from what they arw doing and hover and buzz around in a threatening manner (these are not the females guarding their nests).

Anyway, once things warms up, it's mosquitoes hiding in the grass that will make their way up my pant-legs. So, boots, and pant-legs tucked in.

I had a pair of "women's work boots" from Duluth Trading that were very reasonably priced -- something like $35 -- but they don't have them anymore, and my old pair developed holes last year that makes them useless in the wet.

I have a pair of fun rainboots. So that's what I wore to walk round in the soggy early spring thaw and rain, but now that I'm digging and working, I noticed that these hot pink argyle patterned boots have no hard instep soles like the work boots. It actually hurts to try to dig with gardening fork or spade.

One could argue that you can't dig when the ground is wet... And in fact that's what has kept me from buying the first pair of boots I can get my hands on.

I would like a pair of boots designed with hard instep for digging.
If possible I would like them to be waterproof, but not hot and sweaty.
I don't like laceup boots because they are a pain to tuck pant-legs in.
I don't want to spend a ton of money if I don't have to, but I will if it is for a well designed item.

[hendi_alex]

I'm on about my 7th pair of Muck Garden shoes. Also have a pair of Muck boots. The shoes are very comfortable and have a low profile tread that doesn't pick up too much. They aren't beautiful, but are very comfortable and are very practical. Slip on and off without bending over.



https://www.muckbootsandshoes.com/index. ... duct_id=46

[gumbo2176]

Barefoot, I dislike wearing shoes when I don't have to. Though sometimes it'll be cheap flip flops, for when it's muddy after watering... but only sometimes.

Same here for me. We often get fairly frequent rainfall and it can get a bit muddy between the rows, so barefoot it is. I've grown tired of having to wash off tennis shoes or some type work boot over the years. It's much easier to simply hose off the feet--------besides, they dry quicker.

My only problem is every once in a while a new red ant nest will pop up and I'll find it, much to my chagrin.

[pinksand]

In the summer I love to be barefoot, although I have to be careful in the evening because we have so many banana slugs that stepping on at least one is inevitable. Slug goo between the toes... ick! These days I've been wearing my crocs or old tennis shoes if I need to do some serious digging or am working with stone.

When I help my parents in their VERY steeply sloped back yard I need to have a really well fit sole and good tread. Ticks are also an issue so I'd be interested in getting some of those Tractor Supply boots to maybe discourage them from climbing up my pants. Do you think this would help protect me from the nasty lime disease carrying blood suckers? Are they comfortable or do you think they'd be tricky wearing on a slope? I tend to have my feet slide out from under me from time to time in the steepest sections.

[tomf]

Mucks make a boot also, my brother in law has them. He uses them in the woods when we cut fire wood, so you should look into them.

[ElizabethB]

Love my Mucks. I do like the feel of grass under my feet but working in the garden bare foot would ruin my pedicure. BTW - ever fashion conscience my gardening outfit is jeans, tee-shirt, straw hat and muck shoes worn with tennis socks. Full make-up of course.

[TZ -OH6]

I wear $12 rubber boots from Tractor Supply. They slip on and off, I can hose them off inside and out. movement seems to pump air into them to cool them, and I often slip them on barefoot -no socks. I have a funny farmer's tan on my legs (tan knees only) from wearing them.


Nettles, thistles, ticks etc make them better than low shoes for me, and less dirt inside.

Getting stung by nettles is not that bad compared to a bee or a rose thorn, Is about like a static shock in winter, but it has a lag time of about a second until you feel it, just enough to say 'Oh dang'.

[applestar]

A spammer bumped this thread, so I reviewed the posts — I’m still wearing tall boots —have occasionally ventured out onto grass in sneakers and the spiders jumping out of the way as I walk reminded me that boots would be safer.

Hopefully last year’s white Dunlop's will still serve when the garden is wet and/or needs heavy work. Not so white any more but comfortable and keeps the bugs from joining my feet.

I may look for another pair that are lighter weight for when I’m not doing more strenuous work that doesn’t involve heavy digging with garden shovel and fork — to give my knees and hips a bit of a break….

[imafan26]

I use the tall boots to weed whack, other wise, I get stung by the flying stones.
my feet swell, so I can only get into them when my feet aren't too swollen.

In the garden, and everywhere else I use crocs. They are very comfortable, although they certainly don't keep my feet clean. They get dirty but they are easy to hose off. Only problem is that thorns and wires go through the sole.

[PaulF]

Well past the running stage of life, however, running shoes are my footwear of choice. As one pair gets worn out that one becomes the work/garden shoe of choice. As one becomes the gardening shoe, a new pair gets picked for everyday wear. I have decided my worn out shoes are wearing out too fast so I plan to begin running again so there are gardening shoes waiting in the wings.

[imafan26]

Smart Paul. Finding good shoes is hard just for everyday work shoes. I don't like to use work shoes in the garden because mine are leather and they don't like being wet. Shoes these days, don't come with arch supports. Even if I get the arch supports there isn't all that much room in the shoe for the support and my foot. I have short wide feet so getting wide shoes are hard. I usually get boy's basketball shoes. But everything these days are for runners or joggers.

There aren't that many high top shoes. I need the high top for ankle support even though they are a pain to put on and off. I have to have shoes with laces or like the boots, when my feet swell, I can't get into them.

I have an old pair of shoes with holes in the big toe, but I still have to use them since it is the only shoe that is wide enough so I can get into them when my feet are swollen. Otherwise my feet are squashed in the other shoes.

[TomatoNut95]

These are my Sloggers garden clogs. One is missing the pad, the other pad wearing down to practically nothing at the top. I've had these for years and wouldn't trade them for anything.