Hat on, sleeves on, secateurs out.
Yes. A pair of UPF 50+ gardening sleeves keeps your arms covered through a whole morning in the veggie patch, with no stopping to reapply sunscreen with dirt up to your wrists. Wear them with a wide brim hat, sunscreen on your face and neck, and seek shade wherever you can find it. Crazy Arms help with the little things too. A sleeve can help protect against small scratches, and it puts a layer between your skin and any insects that land on your arms.
As the makers of Crazy Arms sun sleeves, we've given this more thought than most (usually while weeding). Here's how sleeves fit into a gardener's day, from the early start to the arvo watering.
Why do gardeners wear long sleeves?
Mostly for the sun. Gardening puts your arms in about the worst spot there is for UV exposure: bent over a bed, with the backs of your arms and hands turned up to the sky for an hour at a time (longer, if the weeds are winning).
Cancer Council SunSmart says that in Australia we're exposed to some of the harshest UV in the world. The first of its five steps is to slip on clothing, and long sleeves are on the list.
A long sleeve shirt does the job, but if you prefer to wear your favourite t-shirt, sun sleeves are a great flexible option, as they can come off at the back door when you're done.
Are gardening sleeves worth it?
For sun, yes, as long as the fabric has a rating. UPF (ultraviolet protection factor) rates how much UV gets through a fabric, and SunSmart says clothing rated UPF 50+ gives excellent protection. Crazy Arms sleeves use ARPANSA tested UPF 50+ fabric, which blocks at least 98% of UV. ARPANSA is the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency.
Sleeves earn their keep on the long, slow jobs: weeding, planting out seedlings, deadheading, mulching the beds. Sunscreen on your arms gets wiped off on your jeans and the wheelbarrow handles. A sleeve stays where you put it.
A pair of Crazy Arms sleeves will last you from planting to harvesting and beyond. Most of our customers only replace every two to three years. We've even done the maths on how much sunscreen they save you!
If you want the detail on what UPF 50+ means, our post on the best fabric for sun sleeves explains it in plain words.
How do I protect myself from the sun while gardening?
Use the lot, not just one thing. SunSmart's five steps are slip, slop, slap, seek and slide, and its advice is to use them whenever the UV Index is 3 or above. In the garden, that looks like this.
- Slip: sleeves or a long sleeve shirt for your arms.
- Slop: SPF50 or 50+ sunscreen on your face, neck, ears and anything else that's bare, 20 minutes before you go out and again at least every two hours.
- Slap: a wide brim hat. SunSmart suggests a brim of at least 7.5cm for adults, because caps leave large parts of your face, neck and ears exposed.
- Seek: shade for the jobs that can move, like potting up, pricking out seedlings and the cuppa.
- Slide: sunglasses.
Sleeves look after the first step only, which is why they come with the other four.
When is the sun at its worst in the garden?
In the middle of the day. SunSmart says UV is always highest between 10am and 2pm, or 11am and 3pm in daylight saving time. That doesn't make the rest of the day safe. SunSmart's advice is to protect your skin whenever the UV Index is 3 or above, and in summer ARPANSA says that level is often reached before 10am.
The good news is that the garden likes an early start too. NSW's water department suggests watering early in the morning and late in the afternoon to reduce evaporation (in Greater Sydney, the Water Wise Guidelines only allow watering with drinking water before 10am and after 4pm). So get the hose out and the weeding done early, with your sleeves and hat on.
UV can't be seen or felt and isn't related to temperature, so a mild spring morning can still need covering up, and UV can be harmful on cool, cloudy days too.
The easy check is the free SunSmart Global UV app. It gives the sun protection times for where you are, from Bureau of Meteorology forecasts and live UV data from ARPANSA. Look at it when you check the weather, and if you'll be out in those times, cover up.
Do sun sleeves help with scratches and insects?
They can help with the small stuff. Our sleeves are a light, stretchy fabric, made and tested for sun, and that layer over your skin can help protect against the small scratches you pick up reaching into a bed or brushing past a shrub.
Insects are the other one. When a bug lands on your arm, it lands on the sleeve rather than your skin, which can help with both irritation and potential bites while you work. Our post on whether Crazy Arms can protect you after the sun goes down looks at mosquitoes in the evening.
They're not made for thorns, though, so for a serious prune of the roses or the bougainvillea, a pair of heavy gardening gloves is still your best mate.
Thumbhole or plain cuff for the garden?
The key question is whether you wear gardening gloves most of the time or not. If you wear gloves, the plain cuff is fine. If you are doing detailed work that needs finger dexterity, the thumbhole version is great for providing back of the hand protection.
A thumbhole sleeve runs over the back of the hand, the bit that's turned up to the sun every time you reach into a bed, and that's one less place to remember sunscreen. A plain cuff stops at the wrist. Same UPF 50+ fabric either way.
All our arm sleeves with thumbholes are in one place. A plain colour which doesn't shoe the marks so much are our, Stone Sun Sleeves.
Prints or plain: what works in the garden?
It's down to aesthetics and practicality. A sleeve that stays in the drawer doesn't do much, and a print you like is easier to reach for than plain white. (One customer told us her white pair ended up stained from the garden, so her second pair was a print.)
Inspired by our gardening customers, we offer a number of floral prints, Meadow, Daisies, Pacific Palms, as well as other popular camouflage and tie dye prints. You'll find them all in our Leisure Print Arm Sleeves collection, and plain or print, it's the same UPF 50+ fabric. The Pacific Palm Arm Sleeves with Thumbhole are the pair in the photo at the top.
Most plain colours are $42 a pair, and most thumbhole styles $44. Prints are $46, or $48 with a thumbhole.
"I love my new crazyarms which I use when gardening and when driving the car." - Liz (Queeensland)
What size should I get?
Measure, don't guess. Adult sleeves are sized by your bicep, so measure around it with your arm straight and check our size guide. In the right size they fit like a second skin, with gentle compression so they don't slip down while you work. A sleeve that slides down is usually a size too big.
Free exchange of size or colour within 40 days. We cover the postage both ways.
Gardening sleeve questions
Are gardening sleeves worth it?
Yes. A UPF 50+ sleeve covers your arms for the whole job, with no stopping to reapply sunscreen with muddy hands. Wear it with a wide brim hat and sunscreen on your face, neck and ears.
Do I still need sunscreen with arm sleeves?
Not for your arms, but you still need to cover other exposed skin. Crazy Arms will look after your arms, but for the areas clothes can't cover, SunSmart suggests SPF50 or 50+ sunscreen put on 20 minutes before you go outside and reapplied at least every two hours.
What's the best time of day to garden in summer?
Early in the morning. It's outside the peak UV hours of 10am to 2pm, or 11am to 3pm in daylight saving, and it's when the water department suggests watering, because less is lost to evaporation. Early doesn't mean UV free, though: in summer the UV Index is often 3 or above before 10am, and SunSmart says to protect your skin whenever it is. The SunSmart Global UV app shows the sun protection times for where you are.
Can arm sleeves protect against scratches?
From small scratches, they can help. A sleeve also gives a layer between your skin and insects that land on your arms, which can help with irritation and potential bites.
Thumbholes or plain cuff for gardening?
If you wear gardening gloves most of the time, the plain cuff is fine. For detailed work that needs finger dexterity, the thumbhole covers the back of your hand.
Which colour arm sleeve is best for sun protection?
On a rated fabric, the rating tells you what it blocks, and plain or print, ours is the same UPF 50+ fabric. In the garden, a print or a darker colour hides the dirt marks better than white.
Do gardening sleeves stay up?
In the right size, yes. They fit like a second skin, with gentle compression so they don't slip down. Measure your bicep and check the size guide: a sleeve should not slide down while you weed.
How do I wash them?
Cold wash, no fabric softener, no bleach and no tumble dryer. Dry them on the line.
How much are gardening sleeves?
Plain colours are $42 a pair, and the thumbhole styles $44. Prints are $46, or $48 with a thumbhole. Shipping in Australia is free on orders of $95 and over.