Two weeks ago, I seeded a couple of pots with wild arugula purchased from Johnny's Selected Seed and some Rouge D'Hiver (red romaine) lettuce kindly given to me by Kelly from How My Garden Grows. Though I have both growing in the garden currently, I wanted to compare the rate at which these potted specimens grew with the ones planted in my garden. These pots are located in the front of our house, which tends to get a bit more sun than our backyard. Already, I can tell that my potted plants are growing faster.
As the weather gets colder, I plan on taking these inside at night. This is the simplest form of season extension I can think of- leaving cold weather crops out during the day when the temperature is above freezing and bringing them inside at night. I have quite a few swiss chard seedlings (also given to me by Kelly) growing in my garden as well. These will eventually be covered by some plastic as the season progresses, but I think I might transplant a few into coffee cans well. The way I see it, it can't hurt to hedge your bets as the weather grows colder.