A big bowl of hot chili on a frosty fall day or blustery winter evening is the perfect food. Made better with the addition of chocolate. True story.

Another of those glorious cool season dark leafy greens, kale holds the promise of a happy palate, full stomach and good health.

If you have your heart set on growing spinach—either flat leafed or crinkled (savoyed)—so you can be big and strong like Popeye the Sailor Man, then plant this cool season annual when it’s…well…cool outside. Actual planting dates vary depending on where you live.

There’s something inherently comforting about the humble potato, making it easy to understand how cultivating the tuber in the home garden helped families who lived during times of rationing, economic downturn, and war, feel less anxious about their next meal.

Fennel is a gorgeous Mediterranean perennial herb that does well in winter and early spring gardens in moderate climates. Garden and food blogger, Renee Studebaker, is in love with fennel, and her affection for the plant has made her a bit of an expert in growing it in the Central Texas area.