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ne of the most striking new offers in the 2015 mail order seed and plant catalogues is “the world’s first dwarf patio raspberry.” 

Thompson & Morgan (www.thompson-morgan.com; tel 0844 573-1818) claims that one multi-branching Ruby Beauty grown in a 10-litre pot can produce 1.5kg of fruit, while growing only three feet tall.

The obvious advantage of a mini-raspberry bush, apart from the fact that you don’t need a garden to grow it, is that it would be easily netted to prevent birds pinching the crop.

The same company is also advertising a new, exclusive cherry tomato named Romello. Recommended for tubs, hanging baskets and even windowsills, since it reaches just 12 inches in height and spread, it’s promised to give large crops of sweet fruit.

But its real selling point is that it’s the first outdoor tomato of its kind to carry a claim of “exceptional resistance” to late blight, the disease which more than any other ruins outdoor toms. 

Romello is expensive — four quid for just six seeds — but if it lives up to its billing, it’ll quickly pay for itself.

I have long wanted to have a go at growing Ipomoea aquatica, sometimes known as kangkong, or water spinach, or indeed many other names. 

It’s popular throughout the tropical and semi-tropical world, and probably best-known in the West via Chinese cuisine. A perennial in its native lands, it’s reputedly easily grown as an annual in our climate, either in a pond or in pots kept permanently wet.

Until now I’ve found seeds hard to come by, so I’m delighted to see it listed this year by exotica specialists Jungle Seeds (www.jungleseeds.co.uk; tel 01491 614-765).

Older readers might remember the days when peas and beans were sold by the pint for the convenience of those with big gardens or, more often, so that several allotment-holders could club together to buy in bulk.

Apparently it’s now illegal to sell seeds by volume, so DT Brown (www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk; tel 0845 3710-532) has established the weight-per-pint-glass of several of their best-selling varieties of peas, broad beans and runner beans and is offering them at the appropriate price. The saving to the buyer, they say, is more than 30 per cent in each case.

Gardeners troubled by clubroot on their brassicas will be pleased to hear of a new red cabbage, Lodero, from Mr Fothergill’s (www.mr-fothergills.co.uk; tel 0845 371-0518) which boasts resistance to the disease. It’s said to give small to medium heads, which store well and keep their colour when steamed.

When you were a kid and put more mustard on your plate than you ended up using, did your parents tell you “That’s how Mr Colman makes his millions?” 

Well, now you can rob whichever multinational currently owns the famous brand of some of its excess profits by growing your own.

Mustard Tilney, new to Suttons catalogue (www.suttons.co.uk; tel 0844 922-0606), is described as producing “vigorous and fast-growing plants,” which yield “superior quality” seeds suitable for making into the indispensable condiment.