A gardener’s nails.

Silence Dogood here. The other day, I was standing in line and noticed my cashier’s long, glued-on, elaborately ornamented nails. I hoped she didn’t notice mine.

I’m a gardener, and during gardening season, especially if you like to feel the earth like I do with your bare hands, you’d better forget about nails. Forget about them all being a uniform length. Forget about them being long, much less the Mandarin length popularized by nail salons. (How on earth do those people even use their hands?!!) Forget about nail polish. If your nails are clean and not jagged, it’s a triumph.

They tell me that gardeners who want clean nails should run them over a bar of soap before they go outside, then rinse them out afterwards. I can see why this would work, but confess I’ve never tried it. Gardening is plenty of work as it is without adding an extra step. A good metal nail-cleaner usually does the trick for me.

I don’t know about you, but as a gardener, I’m proud of my short nails and functional hands. When I put hand lotion on, I make a point of rubbing it into my nails to give them a little relief. And of course I take my vitamins to nourish my nails from the inside out. But other than that, they’re on their own. Which is, as I see it, as it should be.

‘Til next time,

Silence

Advertisement