The Slate Corduroy Dig The Glove from Burgon & Ball is a properly serious gardening glove — padded palms for protection through heavy work, soft corduroy that stays flexible when wet, mesh-stretch backs for breathability, leather-trimmed cuff and an adjustable wrist strap to keep the soil out. The kind of glove a working gardener reaches for when there's actual digging, pruning, or heavy planting to do, and the kind that lasts.

From Sheffield toolmakers Burgon & Ball, who've been making proper garden tools and accessories since 1730 and are RHS-endorsed. The Dig The Glove range is their dedicated work-glove collection — built for serious gardening rather than show, available in several fabrics and colourways. This is the slate-grey corduroy version — properly handsome, properly hard-wearing.

What makes them work

• Padded palms — the genuine Dig The Glove signature. Real protection during heavy or repetitive work; particularly noticeable when pruning thorny roses, handling rough materials, or doing extended planting sessions
• Soft, hardwearing corduroy — properly tactile, comfortable from the first wear, and crucially doesn't stiffen when wet. Most fabric gloves go rigid after rain or wet planting; corduroy stays workable
• Two-way stretch mesh between fingers — keeps the gloves breathable on warm days, and gives the fingers proper freedom of movement for delicate work (handling seedlings, untangling roots, opening tool boxes)
• Elastane-rich backs — flexible fit that moves with your hand rather than fighting it. Easier to make a proper fist, easier to grip tools
• Adjustable wrist strap — keeps dirt, mulch and water from running down into the gloves. Essential for any extended digging session
• Genuine leather cuff trim — reinforces the wrist edge against wear and gives a properly finished look. Particularly welcome on a corduroy glove where the soft fabric could otherwise look slightly utilitarian
• Machine washable — properly important for working gloves; they get muddy quickly, and being able to throw them in the machine is the difference between a glove that stays in use and one that ends up forgotten in the shed

The Dig The Glove range

"Dig The Glove" is Burgon & Ball's dedicated work-glove collection — the heavier-duty range built for proper digging, pruning, planting and weeding. Distinct from their lighter Love the Glove decorative collection (the floral and tweed fabrics designed for lighter gardening), Dig The Glove is the workshop-rated line: padded palms, reinforced fabrics, proper closures. When B&B want to make a serious working glove, this is the range they put their name on.

If you find yourself doing a lot of heavy planting, pruning, or general garden labour, the Dig The Glove range is the right place to start. For lighter, prettier gardening — deadheading, picking flowers for the kitchen, light potting — the Love the Glove collection's tweed and floral options give you the gardening glove without the heavy-duty bulk.

What you'll use them for

• Pruning roses, shrubs and hedges — padded palms protect from thorns; the leather cuff trim adds extra protection at the wrist
• Digging and planting — the wrist strap keeps mud out; the breathable mesh keeps hands cool during sustained work
• Border and bed clearance — handling debris, brambles, dead plant material. The hardwearing corduroy resists snagging
• Potting up and dividing — the flexible fit means proper hand control for delicate root work
• Moving compost and mulch — the dust-resistant cuff and machine-washable fabric make this honest dirty work survivable
• Year-round general gardening — from spring border preparation through to autumn cut-back, these gloves cover the gardening calendar

Sizing

Available in two sizes:

• M/L — fits women's medium and most men's medium hands; the common everyday size for many gardeners
• L/XL — fits larger hands and many men. If you're between sizes or like a slightly looser fit for layering with thin liner gloves in winter, sizing up to L/XL is sensible

Burgon & Ball gloves are designed for comfort and movement rather than tight precision fit — the elastane-rich backs and stretchy mesh accommodate a range of hand shapes within each size band.

Specifications

• Brand: Burgon & Ball (Dig The Glove range)
• Material: Hardwearing corduroy outer; elastane-rich back panels; two-way stretch mesh between fingers
• Padding: Padded palms for protection
• Cuff: Genuine leather trim with adjustable wrist strap
• Colour: Slate grey
• Sizes: M/L or L/XL (selectable variant)
• Care: Machine washable
• SKU: GLOGREYCORML (M/L) / GLOGREYCORLXL (L/XL)

About Burgon & Ball

Burgon & Ball are one of Britain's oldest toolmakers, founded in Sheffield in 1730. They're RHS-endorsed, supplier to the Royal Horticultural Society, and the chosen manufacturer for the Sophie Conran licensed garden tool collection. We stock their range because they make proper garden tools and workwear the proper way — tested in real working gardens, built to last decades rather than seasons.

The Burgon & Ball gloves family

If you like these, the wider B&B glove range carries the same quality and design thinking. Pieces in the collection include:

• Dig The Glove range — the work-glove line, available in multiple fabrics including corduroy (this), jersey, leather and others
• Love the Glove range — the lighter decorative gardening glove line, in tweed, floral prints and patterned fabrics
• Flora & Fauna gloves — B&B's mid-range glove line with botanical prints and durable fit
• Heritage Green and Red Check Collection gloves — the Collector Range gloves in heritage gingham patterns

Different gloves for different gardening jobs — we stock several B&B glove lines deliberately so customers can choose the right gloves for their style of gardening.

As a gift

A proper pair of gardening gloves is one of those genuinely useful gifts — the kind of present a working gardener will actually use and remember you for. Particularly suited to:

• A new gardener — the first proper pair of work gloves makes serious gardening significantly more pleasant
• A keen kitchen gardener or allotmenteer — these are the gloves for proper digging and pruning days
• Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthdays — particularly paired with a Sophie Conran trowel, dibber, or secateurs for a complete planting set
• Christmas gifts for gardeners — gloves arrive ready for spring digging and planting
• A house-warming gift for someone with a new garden

At £17.49 the price point sits comfortably in mid-range gifting territory — substantial enough to feel properly considered, accessible enough to bundle with seeds or a small tool for a more generous gift.

A small thought: there's a particular satisfaction in starting the gardening year with a fresh pair of work gloves — not yet broken in, properly clean, the leather trim and corduroy still sharp. Three months later they'll be soil-stained and faintly compost-scented, properly worn into the shape of your hands, and exactly where they belong. The kind of object that reads better through use than fresh out of the packet. That's what these are for.