FREEZING temperatures may have prevented work on the plot, but at least it has forced me to sit down and plan what is going to be planted where, and make a list of desirable seeds to order.

I shall be going to the annual potato day at Whitchurch next weekend, which has become a confirmed annual event on the calendar. As well as being able to choose from around 150 varieties of seed potato with the opportunity to buy just a few tubers of a cultivar to try out, you can also buy onion sets and seeds from specialist nurseries selling both traditional and heritage seeds. And there is also the fun of the seed swap table. Last year, I took my own collected Scarlet Emperor runner bean seed and swapped for an envelope of Polish Purple climbing French bean seed. These proved a real find. All the seed germinated, producing stunning purple flowers before setting into delicious stringless beans with mottled purple flesh, and I managed to collect my own seed for this year too.

Polish Purple beans are a heritage variety and, therefore, depend on gardeners and specialist growers to keep them in existence. Garden Organic (gardenorganic.org.uk) is a charity which takes and grows seed passed down through generations of gardeners, to prevent varieties being phased out. Voluntary seed guardians grow and save seed for future generations and you can even adopt a heritage variety through the scheme. Names of heritage varieties are often derived from whoever was last in line to donate the seed to the charity and this gives delightful names such as Aquadulce Claudia broad bean dating from 1844 and Blenheim Orange melon, first grown in the gardens of Blenheim Palace in 1887.

Because heritage varieties have stood the test of time, they are believed to be superior in quality, taste and yield and, of course, you can save their seed for future seasons, unlike F1 hybrid seed, created by crossing parent lines to produce hybrids. The resulting hybrid seed is more expensive than traditional seed and not worth saving as the variety will not breed true. On the plus side though, there is generally higher pest and disease resistance. Choosing seeds has never been such fun.