Gardening Shoes

Gardening shoe
Originally uploaded by emagen

Today I want to talk to you about shoes. Yes . . . .Shoes. In particular - gardening shoes.
"Why write about shoes", I hear you say. Well, gardening shoes need to fulfill several key criteria in addition to normal, everyday shoes. It is not enough for them merely to protect your feet from treading on dog poo or to just keep your toes from splaying outwards. The following points should be borne in mind when adopting a pair of shoes to become 'Gardening Shoes':

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  The key criteria is that they should be able to be slipped off ones feet when entering the house and be able to slipped on when entering the garden. Both these actions should be able to be achieved without bending down.
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  They should be comfortable to wear with or without socks. ( Even in the privacy of one's garden, wearing socks with shorts does not do much for one's self-image).
  They should be waterproof.
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  They should NOT have any tread. I know some people favour wearing walking-type boots but this type of footwear has deep treads that trap soil and then distributes this soil in clods around the lawn or on paths. Trainers are definitely no good, their tread traps pieces of grit that sound really annoying when walking on garden paths. (Trainers are also garish, smelly things). Wellington boots have similar 'tread problems and look silly with shorts.

My gardening shoes, pictured above (well . . . one of them) fulfill all the above criteria apart from them no longer being waterproof. I've had them for many, many years. The laces are now purely decorative and in a permanent knot, they can be very easily slipped on and off without bending down. They are, in fact, so loose om my feet that I've had to adopt a particular way of walking so that they don't fall off. The gait I have to adopt is rather similar to that of a cross-country skier!

I wear these gardening shoes all the year round except for the summer months when I attempt to walk barefoot in the garden. Walking around barefoot is a pure joy for most of the time but I have suffered some nasty injuries from this practice!