Dear Heloise: I never liked garden gloves because they allowed dirt and water in through the fabric. This didn’t protect my hands, and dirt got under my nails, which required a lot of scrubbing to get out. Instead, I now use the same type of rubber glove I use when washing dishes. Dirt does not get under my nails — and no more plantar warts. If I use hand lotion before I put my rubber gloves on, my hands feel like they’re in a mini-spa. — Lorraine R., Covington, Kentucky

TONGUE-DEPRESSOR LABELS

Dear Heloise: Last spring, my grandson’s first grade class made birdhouses out of tongue depressors, and when he was done with his birdhouse, there were a lot of these depressors left in the plastic bag. Rather than tossing them in the trash, we kept them and used them at the head of each row of vegetable seeds we planted. I wrote the name of the vegetable on both sides of the tongue depressor, and my grandson stuck each stick about 1/3 of the way into the ground.

It was a fun project and something we could do together. After school, he would stop by my house on his way home to check on the garden to see how everything was growing. This gave me a chance to teach him how to grow his own food. — Kathy T., Hampton, Virginia

Kathy, this is an excellent idea. Most children don’t know how to plant seeds or when to harvest what they’ve sown. Learning how to grow your own food is a valuable lesson in life. — Heloise