Most of us are reeling from the expense of Christmas — and that’s just the heating costs. So I was very interested to receive a press release from a vegetable seed specialist informing me that 24 packets of popular vegetable seeds cost £34.36. When this company, D. T. Brown, costed out the same seeds from others it found that their own were up to “a staggering” (to use their words) £22.30 cheaper than almost identical ‘baskets’ from their rivals. The 24 varieties include favourites such as Beetroot ‘Boltardy’, Carrot ‘Autumn King’, Lettuce ‘Little Gem’, Runner Bean ‘Enorma’ and Tomato ‘Alicante’. Their seed orders are also sent out postage free and orders placed on the company’s website (www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk) by noon are sent out on the same day. Telephone 0845 3710 532 for a catalogue.

D. T. Brown are able to keep costs to a minimum because they are a mail order company: they do not have to give a retail outlet any profits. Their packets do not have to be highly illustrated to catch the shopper’s eye, either, so this saves costs.

The company has consciously taken the decision to carry on filling the packets well with high-quality seeds.

If you are an allotment group you can bulk order your seeds and (if you can get your seed order in before next Christmas) you can earn a 30 per cent discount on orders of £150 or more. Seed orders of £1,000 can attract 50 per cent discount. Horticultural societies should also inquire.

Like many gardeners, I tend to buy the same varieties year after year. So I decided to examine my seed collection. I found that the same seeds that cost £2 last year were now 30p more — a rise of 15 per cent. This is partly because many seeds are produced abroad. The euro, dollar to pound exchange rate buys less. Expenses inevitably rise too, but when two packets of seeds are needed rather than one it’s time to start being discerning.

I am old enough to remember runner beans, broad beans and peas being allowed to run to seed so that that gardeners could save their own from year to year.

I can also remember agonising about which seeds to buy from Woolworth’s, before the age of the garden centre. Could I afford them or not?

Perhaps after years of buying without counting the cost, we are returning to prudence.

If 40 runner beans seeds continue to cost £3 I may yet start to save my own seeds, but then I am a Yorkshire girl.

Reader Offer You can save £5 on this collection of 11 AGM (Award of Garden Merit) varieties for £11.89 inc. p&p. A double collection is £15.78. Lettuce ‘Little Gem’, Runner Bean ‘Enorma’, Cabbage ‘Hispi’, Carrot ‘Flyaway’, Courgette ‘Defender’, Tomato ‘Gardener’s Delight’, Radish ‘French Breakfast’, Dwarf Bean ‘Safari’, Broad Bean ‘The Sutton’, Spring Onion ‘Ishikura’ and Cucumber ‘Bush Champion’. Call 0844 770 7733, or send cheques payable to D. T. Brown to The Oxford Times AGM Seeds Offer, D.T. Brown Seeds, Rookery Farm, Joys Bank, Holbeach St Johns, Spalding, PE12 8SG.