According to a leading retailer, sales of seeds for tomatoes, courgettes, beans and other vegetables now outstrip seeds for flowers by a considerable margin, after the recession and the allotment revival encouraged an increasing number of people to take up their trowels.

B&Q said that sales of vegetable seeds had jumped nearly three-fold in recent weeks, compared with the same period last year, which was itself a record year with sales of plant seeds increasing by 30 per cent.

Out of the te...

Tomatoes come in many different colours, shapes and sizes, including large beef steak types, oblong plum varieties, small cherry types and even purple, yellow, orange and sometimes striped types. What’s more, there are varieties that can be grown as standard cordons, some as bush plants and others in hanging baskets.

There are indoor and outdoor varieties to choose from, depending on your specific requirements, and ones which can be grown in small areas, for those short on space. Most t...