The purple hull peas have multiple pods, but the leaves are looking a little mottled on some of the plants and I have a baaad feeling about them.  The cucumbers have a bizzillion blooms but some of the cucumbers are normal and some are yellow and gourd-like.

I did some research on this with these possible results.  1.  Poor pollination.  It’s not this one because I have many bees working the blooms every time I go out to look for a new cucumber.  2.  Nutritional deficiencies.  This is probably the culprit.  So, I fertilized the plants and am hoping with this rain they will improve.

I am also wondering if it could be the seed, as I planted two different varieties and only one type seems to be affected.  Hmm.  But, I did manage to scrounge up enough cucumbers to make refrigerator dill pickles.

Hehe.  I didn’t get the picture before we dug into these, so the jar looks a little empty.  But… it WAS full.

I got this recipe from Margaret Roach’s blog www.awaytogarden.com.  She has an amazing website and gardens in zone 5.  She was the garden editor for Martha Stewart several years ago and has written a book A Way to Garden  and is currently working on a new one.

Anyway, she was given this recipe for refrigerator pickles and it is really easy and they are fantastic!  http://awaytogarden.com/dan-koshanskys-refrigerator-pickles.  They are deliciously dill with a spicy kick.

 Margaret is also having a Food Fest, along with other host bloggers,  for the next four weeks where you can submit your favorite recipes.  Here are the rules  http://awaytogarden.com/starting-tuesday-4-week-summer-food-event#more-5760.   It should be fun.   It’s where I got the pickle recipe last year.  Who knows what delicious recipes we’ll find!