A few of my favorite things about summer: Fresh flowers in random rooms. Just picked vegetables on every menu. Pesto on everything. Knitting to baseball, except right now I'm on my laptop while I'm watching baseball, but usually I'm knitting. And what about those Giants anyway? If you are a baseball fan, can you just imagine how exciting it is to be a Giants fan these days!

But this is a garden post, so I'll get on with that! The cucumbers are coming in and I was able to pick enough of them to make my first jar of pickles. I really only grow cucumbers for one reason and that is to make Dan Koshansky's amazing refrigerator pickles all summer long. They are delicious, crispy, easy, and fail proof and you can make them as garlicky or as dilly as you like. If you haven't made them yet, let this be the year you give them a try. You can use this recipe with purchased cucumbers too; choose a smallish, thin-skinned variety. I grow my own warty cucumbers for pickling but I often spot pickling cucumbers at my farmer's market. If you come across fresh, warty, smallish, thin skinned cucumbers, that's what you're looking for, buy some and make your own! Dan's recipe works equally well for cucumber spears, slices, rounds or whole. It's also great for pickled green beans. For green beans, snap off the stem end, blanch in boiling water for one minute, shock in ice water for one minute, then proceed with recipe.

I finished a knit last week and I love it. I wore it last night and received some nice compliments. It's cropped and perfect with high waisted trousers. Details and modeled pics coming soon.

In the meantime, here are some pictures from the garden.

Dilly Beans with Garlic.

Fonda by Caitlyn Hunter

This beauty needs a few more weeks of warm weather.

Shasta Daisy

A new tomato variety for me, Blue Cream Berries. Still deciding if I'll plant them again.

Our first tiny harvest of pattypan summer squash...

...tuned into a nice little lunch. Toss thickly cut squash and halved cherry tomatoes with 1 tsp. olive oil, salt and pepper, and 1 tbsp. each of fresh herbs, toasted pine nuts and grated parmesan cheese.

Lightly cover with foil and bake in hot oven until vegetables soften. My toaster oven took a half hour. Top with grated cheese, I have a mix of mozzarella and cheddar here, and broil until bubbly.

I served it with a poached egg and Everything Bagel Seasoning. Have you tried bagel seasoning yet? We seem to put it on everything and love this one.

The roses are gearing up for their second bloom.

Purple basil in the foreground.