It seemed almost predestined that I would become a gardener.
My green-thumbed mother brought me into this world on Earth Day and raised me in the suburbs of the great Garden State. When I was a kid, we’d routinely visit local farms to pick Jersey Fresh blueberries and apples, and some of my earliest memories are of “helping” her tend our vegetable patch, giant sunflowers towering over me.
But one thing I didn’t inherit from my mom is her sun-avoidant fashion sense. She has always diligently protected her skin from the sun, which means wearing dark-colored long-sleeved shirts and pants, as well as a wide-brimmed hat, even in the middle of July.
My garden getup, on the other hand, consists of no hat atop my freakishly large head, a years-old tank top and cargo shorts, and a pair of treadless, beaten-down Crocs (sans socks) on my feet.
I’m not proud to admit it, but until recently, my sun-protection efforts were dubious at best. I’d come inside after spending a long day in the garden, and my wife, a diligent hat-wearer, would grimace at my tender, cherry-red nose. “That looks like it hurts,” she’d say. (And it did.) My mother was less permissive in her feedback. “Your father had skin cancer,” she’d say with a frown. I largely ignored the commentary. I am of the tanning-bed generation, after all.
Then I had a kid. And then another. Sprinkle in a pandemic and a major home renovation, and before I knew it, five of the most stressful years of my life had passed and had begun to manifest on my skin in the form of fine lines, dark spots, and other unpleasantness. I knew my sun-filled times outdoors weren’t doing me any favors. Maybe my mom was on to something. But I still wasn’t ready to commit to a lifetime of floppy, wide-brimmed hats or linen shirts—it had to feel like me.
Last year, I started applying sunscreen to my face every day (I use Abib Quick Sunstick Protection Bar, which is a pick in our Korean skin-care guide) and using full-body sunscreen (Supergoop Play Everyday Lotion SPF 50, also a Wirecutter pick). I often wear socks with my Crocs (a lewk) to prevent the tops of my feet from getting sunburned. And I did, in fact, acquiesce to a wide-brimmed hat — an O’Neill Sonoma Lifeguard Hat, to be exact — which, stylistically, is less coastal grandmother and more “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere.”
But my most delightfully unexpected skin-care find came in the form of a product that I’ve come to think of as my second skin. In the spring of 2024, with a renewed sense of self-preservation, I was fed an Instagram ad that I’d ignored a hundred times before. It was peddling Farmers Defense Protection Sleeves, a pair of sleeves that appeared thin and flimsy but promised to protect against the sun’s UV rays and even some of the skin irritants one might encounter in the garden (tomato plants, I’m looking at you).
Made from cooling and lightweight fabrics, these durable sleeves offer sun (UPF 50+) and scratch protection for gardeners or any outdoor adventurer.
Over the past year, I’ve put these gardening sleeves through their paces. I’ve chopped, raked, hoed, and shoveled my way through my regular spring cleanup and planting. In the heat of summer, I slipped into my gardening sleeves to harvest, water, and weed. In the fall, I did nothing — because all thoughtful gardeners know that garden cleanup is best left until temperatures warm up in the spring.
What I thought was silly-looking sun protection surprisingly turned out to be the MVP of my new garden garms. And even more unexpectedly, they’re so pleasant and easy to wear that when I’m spending time outdoors outside of the garden — attending a local baseball game, say, or fishing, as I was during a two-week family vacation to the Outer Banks last summer — I often wish I’d brought them with me.
