For more information on eating fresh vegetables out of a winter garden in the climate of the northeast and midwest US, I recommend the books by Maine garden-writer Eliot Coleman.
I eat the best salads in Bloomington all fall, winter, and spring.
And of course, the garden explodes in the summer with all kinds of vegetables.
My sunflowers are "Mammoth" from Fedco. They grow 10-15 ft. tall in 3 months, a spectacular display, and attract critters. They are really hassle free to grow.
I think the question I'm asked most frequently about my garden is how I find time to do all of it. The answer is that, once you learn the basics of how to do it, it really isn't that much work. I rarely spend more than 10 hours a week in the garden, and most times of the year I spend much less. If you subtract out the time I would spend going to the market to buy vegetables, and the time I would spend doing other kinds of exercise, and the time I would spend mowing the lawn in the same area, it really is only 5 hours a week.
Did I mention that I love and am entirely addicted to my garden? Plants are truly miraculous.
Lately I've been spending more time on my perennial patches. I'm trying to figure out how to make them beautiful all year round, how to grow more native plants, and how to grow more useful perennials - vegetables, herbs, etc. I still have alot to learn about annual vegetables, but I'm a real novice with the perennials.
In addition to my garden, I have been involved in two really cool garden-related projects in Bloomington: The Hoosier Hills Food Bank Garden Project and the Bloomington Community Orchard. These are both fantastic new projects and I am proud to have played a very small role in helping them out!