Only time will tell whether the sudden realisation by the retail trade that there is money to be made in offering consumers the chance to grow your own, promoted around the edges of the fresh produce section, will pay off. Interest is still increasing, if the recent public response to the US upside-down tomato plant is any indication.

The key question is - apart from the head-on competition with garden centres - whether customers who have enough room on their lawns and patios are happy enough with the long-term results to repeat their purchases next season.

Meanwhile, the seed range burgeons. Marks & Spencer has raised its offer beyond fresh herbs that fit on the windowsill. There are now peppers, Moneymaker tomatoes and dwarf French beans at £2.99 each, encased in a terracotta flower pot.

For the more adventurous, there is a selection of tomato, radish, beetroot, rocket and two types of onion seeds, for £4.99. Growing mixed salad is not new, but for £9.99 there is also a rival in its own bucket - if you are prepared to wait weeks after germination.

One crop that is unlikely to feature as a grow-your-own line is watercress, so welcome a new 40g baby leaf pack, sourced from Portugal.

Not everyone want to grow their own food at home and local sourcing is the next best thing. However, there seems to be less evidence of those generic regional labels that appeared a few years ago.

Tesco has come up with Cheshire Temptation vine tomatoes under its Nurture brand at two for £2.50.

Further along the shelves, it has spread the net wider with South Coast asparagus, which theoretically means it can come from anywhere between Dungeness and Lands’ End, priced at two for £3.

On the mushroom market, I am always surprised that a simple sliced pack remains popular, but Asda has come up with a new 200g medley presentation for £1, which adds a level of sophistication. It also offers a similarly prepared mix of traditional white buttons (31 per cent) grey oysters (21 per cent) and shiitaki (16 per cent), garnished with fresh parsley. I assume that because of the various labelling requirements it does not have to identify the various sources.

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