Winter Gardening

I am always fascinated by seed catalogs from the west coast arriving this time of year touting the joys of winter gardening.  Buy our seeds they say and plant them in Sept. and Oct. then step back and wait til spring when you can harvest lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, green onions and other tasty veggies.  They don't mention, or don't realize that in the vast majority of the country, you might as well throw the seeds in your freezer as plant them outside.  But wait, in your freezer at least they will be available to plant outside next spring.  If you plant lettuce or broccoli seeds outside in Sept. in the north country, they may sprout, but the first blast of Old Man Winter in Late October will shrivel them in no time.  By spring, when the last of the snow has melted, you would be hard pressed to identify the remnants.  I have accidentally wintered over kale and spinach, but that is about it.