Growing winter crops

Its intresting to me how some plants actually improve in flavour and texture during the winter months. I assumed that any plant you harvested in the winter would be stunted and bitter. I suppose our climate is really very mild. The idea that crop protection can be as elementary as planting your vegetables near a south facing wall is also a very interesting concept. It seems like you have to plant most of these winter crops in mid august so it already seems like were a little behind!