Kitchen Garden Forum

In a rare fit of efficiency today I washed my heavy duty gardening gloves which were absolutely filthy and had gone almost rock hard. They're a sort of leather with a fibrous outer coating and I've long since lost the label saying what they were made of. However they're now dripping on the washing line and look like they won't be dry until the end of autumn. Luckily I've got another pair but can anybody suggest how I can speed up the drying process?

Dear Primrse when a pair of my work boots get soaked, i stuff them with newspaper.

Hi Primrose,

Have you thought about putting them in the airing-cuboard, I do this with wet trainers. It does take a couple of days but they do dry out.

Do be careful not to dry them too quickly if they are made of leather or hide, or they will end up a lot smaller and harder than before you started.

Good tip OH.

My husband used to use those very heavy industrial rubber gloves when he was working outside which had to be washed quite regularly. I always hung them up on the line in two stages: first with the opening down to make sure that every drop of water was drained out of them, then the other way round, making sure that the gloves were completely open for the wind to blow into them.

I know that's not the same as leather or vinyl gloves but it still took about a week for them to dry in the finger tips, but dry they did eventually.