You'll love this giant Red Mustard from my friends at Redwood Seeds. These huge leaves with red and green coloring pack a spicy punch. The flavor is wasabi-like when eaten raw, but the spice diminishes when cooked--which makes these greens great for stir-fry or soups.

Slow to bolt in the spring, it’s also resistant to aphids and harlequin beetles. Plant in November and begin harvesting in late December.

This delicious vegetable is often overlooked by home gardeners. If you’ve ever tasted it at an Asian restaurant, you’ll definitely want to grow it in your garden! It’s delicious when stir-fried with some garlic and ginger...mmmm.

Green Fortune is the variety that I like to grow. It rapidly produces cute and chubby mini heads whose crispy pastel stalks and deep green leaves size up and are ready to eat in record time (45 days). 

Broccoli Raab (also known as Rapini) produces an abundance of deep green leaves and tender shoots topped with tiny bud clusters.

Enjoy these full-flavored greens sautéed in olive oil and garlic...yum. Plant in November and harvest in January.

If you never can seem to use up an entire head of celery from the store, you might think that growing it doesn’t make sense. Au contraire!

If you grow celery in your garden, you can harvest individual stalks as needed—amazing flavor and no more waste. I like "Utah" celery from Botanical Interests. Plant in November and begin harvesting in January or February.

Garlic is super-easy to grow, and it's so fun to harvest huge heads of garlic from your own garden. This year, I'm growing softneck garlic from Botanical Interests.

Softneck garlic does better here in California, since our winters are pretty mild. Learn about how to plant and grow garlic like a pro.

Shallots provide a gentle onion flavor to salads, vinaigrettes, and more. It’s easiest to plant these as starts from the nursery--the earlier you start them, the bigger the bulbs will be.

If you’re set on seeds, Zebrune or “Chicken Leg” Shallots are my favorite.

My Dad used to tell me “if you’re planting Swiss Chard, you’d better like it a LOT. It just never stops growing!”

I like to grow Baby Leaf chard because it has a mild flavor. For big, showy stems you’ll want to grow Bright Lights chard (pictured). Can you believe those amazing colors?

Bright Lights has green leaves and crunchy stalks in a vivid rainbow of yellow, crimson, gold, pink and white with an occasional gorgeous stem of orange. Plant in November and begin harvesting in January.

Georgia Southern collard greens are a deep blue-green color that's mild and juicy. Pick the young leaves to add to your green smoothies and let some leaves grow to add to hearty winter soups.

Sow seeds directly in the garden in November and begin harvesting mid-January.

Did you know that radishes come in many different colors? I've even grown black radishes, but the kids thought they were pretty weird.

Garden Party mix is my favorite because you get purple, pink, red, white, and gold radish seeds all in the same pack.

They’ll grow quickly, and you can harvest your radishes when they’re the size of large marbles–about one month after planting.

Popeye might have eaten his spinach from a can, but fresh is soooo much better.

I like Catalina Baby Leaf spinach from Renee’s Garden because its leaves are small and tender. It’s just the right size for salads, stir-fry, sandwiches, omelettes, and so on.

Spinach is happiest in cool weather, so November planting is perfect. You’ll have fresh, tender spinach by January!

You can plant snow peas, shelling peas, or snap peas in November. They're big and easy to plant, so the kids will enjoy helping you plant them.

We are big fans of snow peas around here, and the kids like to eat them right off the vine. My favorite variety is Oregon Sugar Pod II.

Learn more about planting and growing snow peas.

Tender and sweet, Red Winter Kale is mildly flavored compared to other types of kale. It has beautiful, dark-red stems and beautifully shaped leaves. Besides being chock-full of nutrients, it’s great in a salad or as a garnish.

Sow seeds directly in the garden or set out plants in November, and begin harvesting in January...just in time to make a nutritious green smoothie.

They sure look weird, but they taste good! Kohlrabi is a brassica, just like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage—so watch out for cabbage worms (here’s how to keep them away).

Kohlrabi is great in salads and slaws, and its flavor and texture is similar to apples or broccoli stems. I like the purple and white Vienna Blend from Botanical Interests.

November is a great time to grow lettuce, and I like Heirloom Cutting Mix from Renee's Garden.

It has seeds for the red-flecked, lime-green “Speckled Troutback,” sweet “Blush Butter Cos,” juicy “Red Ruffled Oak,” notched dark red “Devil’s Tongue” and crispy, upright “Sucrine.”

You can plant these in rows or in blocks for tasty and colorful salads.

You can’t believe the taste difference between fresh fava beans and dried/canned. It’s amazing--you've got to try these.

I like to grow Windsor Broad Bean Favas. Young pods can be eaten like snap beans, or you can shell the beans and cook when still green for a sweet, flavorful treat.

The beautiful white and black flowers on an upright plant make Windsor pretty enough to use in flower beds. Plant in November and begin harvesting in late January.

These beautiful and drought-resistant flowers brighten our front yard with their color each spring and fall. I like to sprinkle the seeds everywhere—they can grow in the smallest patch of soil.

We have orange, white, and pink poppies growing in our front yard. Aren't they lovely?