Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Suffolk_lass

I'll be interested to hear if your foxgloves come true to the apricot colour as mine never do - they cross pollinate with other colours and come the colour they want to be here.

DawnW

Suffolk_lass said:

I'll be interested to hear if your foxgloves come true to the apricot colour as mine never do - they cross pollinate with other colours and come the colour they want to be here.

Mine randomly seed themselves, and they are always purple like the wild ones (which is probably what they are, as I have never planted any). We did once have a white one with deep purple markings, which was lovely, but sadly it never returned.

Aquilegia do similar (I once planted a pink one and a purple one, and now they grow everywhere). But now they generally all seem to be purple - except last year, I did have a reddish purple one with white centres to the flowers. Haven't seen any of those this year though!

Love free flowers whatever the colour though!

foxgloves

@Suffolk_lass - Yes, it will be interesting to see if the apricot foxgloves from saved seed remain true to the variety or whether they will have crossed with other foxgloves. Some plants do come true from saved seed, some are more mixed. It's actually one of the things I like about saved seed - there might be an interesting surprise 

@DawnW - Yes, the purple ones are the native wildflower but the paler pink ones & the creamy-white ones with dark magenta speckles are also native variants. Every so often I used to sprinkle a packet of foxglove 'Alba' variety (pure white) - usually free on a magazine - to add a bit more of a genetic mix & cross-pollinating opportunity. I have had a pink one this year on which all the petals pointed upwards. I know there's a specific named variety which has this feature, but mine was just from a self-sown seed from a normal native one.
F

Cheery_Daff

We too have a pile of self seeded aquilegia - they're lovely! And a few foxgloves around the edges of walls - all purple ones, and I won't be planting any more as Mr Cheery is not a fan - strange man! 😂

foxgloves

They're one of my favourite flowers @Cheery_Daff, & I love aquilegias too, esp the promise of new colours & shapes as they are so promiscuous. I read somewhere that it's worth having a close look at aquilegia flowers to see if there is one that's a bit different. Then tie a bright thread around its stem so you can find it again & collect the seed pod. Sow separately to see if the offspring are also different like the parent plant. I always mean to do this but never get round to it.
F

foxgloves

Hello Frugal Lovelies,
I've just popped a sourdough loaf in the oven so am chatting to you while it bakes. Not a no-spend day as I had to pay the wheelie-bin cleaner, but it was only £4 & I've spent nothing else. A fair bit of old-style activity today:
*Made a sourdough - a proper one in a proving basket, not my more usual cheat's method.
*Pulled another kg of rhubarb & cooked it - a bowl in the fridge to boost this week's fruit intake plus 3 containers frozen.
*Cut more lettuce & coriander & pulled spring onions for tonight's salad.
*Made some spicy tofu 'steaks' for this week's lunches - I just divide a pack into 4 rectangles, brush it with curry paste & shallow fry in a little oil. Nice in a roll or wrap with salad. 
*Prepped broad beans ready for tomorrow's meal - I haven't grown broad beans for a few years. I love them, but the last 2 years I grew them, despite netting them, the sparrows still managed to peck off & shred all the flowers so there was no crop. Yesterday, we visited a local-ish NT place with a veggie garden & they had some on their stall. It's always worth a look. Any veg not needed in the restaurant is just displayed on a stall with an honesty box for people to help themselves for a small donation. Everything had been well raided by the time we'd finished our picnic & wandered over but luckily nobody had fancied the lovely broad beans which were rammed loose into our rucksack!
*Did meal plans for next week. I really did want some money left over this month but I don't think it will happen. Have prioritised stuff from the freezer - the only protein will be a pack of chicken thighs & one small box of cat food pouches (although Soot has been experimenting with catching his own protein this afternoon......<sighs>) Anyway I've decided on:
Sat - Steak, home made jacket wedges, salad & olives (steaks are the 2 leftover ones we froze)
Sun - Pork slices in gravy, new potatoes, apple sauce, carrots & greens (a rubber pork freezing from last week)
Mon - Home made fish cakes, herby couscous & salad (From freezer & garden)
Tues - Bolognese & pasta shapes (SC batch-cooked bolognese sauce frozen a while back)
Weds - Kedgeree (using smoked mackerel which came in the time before last's Grimsby fish box - needs using up)
Thurs - Karahi chicken & rice (a new recipe to try from my slow cooker book - looks nice)
Fri - Turkey chilli & home made jacket wedges (Mr F made this a couple of weeks ago & froze the spare 2 portions)
*So that having been sorted out, checked stores thoroughly & wrote shopping list.
*Last of Sunday's rubber chicken tonight, stir-fried with sliced onions, cannelini beans & curry spices & served in warm pittas with a salad. It was a much smaller chicken than we usually buy but it has still done 3 days of meals plus a packed lunch.
I do need to water the veg garden, esp greenhouse tonight but I think I will wait until it has cooled down a little as the sun is still v strong here. I don't want to lose any veg....it does make a difference to our grocery budget when we are picking the full range of what we grow. First aubergine has set fruit overnight & there are tomatoes on all 19 plants. 
*Plan a useful gardening day for tomorrow & make sure I am out there at 8am as I have some tasks that need to be done while it's cooler. I have quite a lot to do out there, so good for bending & stretching too.
Right, that's my lot & still 8 mins to go until the bread pings!
Take care in this hot weather. I'm very much supporting the railway workers but I know that hanging around trying to get home or wherever will not be the easiest in these very hot temperatures.
Love F x

Sun_Addict

Our wheelie bin cleaner only charges £2.50 for once every 4 weeks.

foxgloves

Gosh, I don't know how he makes a living then, @Sun_Addict. Ours was terribly upset this week that it's his final week at £4! It'll be £5 every 4 weeks from next month because everything has gone up in price for him especially fuel. I don't begrudge £5. It's a horrid job which I don't want to do myself. 
F

foxgloves

Was out in the veggie garden by 7.57 this morning! Just stopped for coffee, then back down there for more jobs. Been proper productive so far....hope I don't start wilting anytime soon!
F x

Cheery_Daff

Very impressive! I still haven't made it outside yet! 🙄 need to get my act together, it's such a lovely day!