Forty euros buys a takeaway for two, or half a tank of diesel, or the Vintage Orto Kit: ten Italian vegetable varieties in one box. Here is what actually comes out the other end of that box, variety by variety, with real numbers.

Basil, from one packet

A packet of Genovese basil at the supermarket costs around one euro eighty. It lasts four days in the fridge before it wilts. One packet of basil seeds from the Vintage Orto Kit, grown in a pot on a windowsill, gives you leaves from May to October. That is six months against four days.

Courgette, from one plant

One courgette plant, grown from the seeds in the kit, produces fifteen to twenty courgettes through July and August. That is not a good year. That is an ordinary Irish July.

San Marzano tomato, from one plant

In a polytunnel or a warm sheltered spot, one San Marzano plant produces four to six kilograms of sauce tomatoes between August and October. Enough passata for the winter, made once, eaten for months.

The other seven

The kit also has fennel, rocket, and six more varieties chosen to work together in an Irish garden rather than sit in a drawer unused. Rocket alone can be cut four or five times from a single sowing before it needs replacing.

What this does not include

It does not include the tomatoes you give away in September because there are too many. It does not include the Sunday afternoon your eight year old spends picking courgettes instead of a screen. Those do not have a price. They are the part of the forty euros nobody puts on the label.

Yields are typical figures for Irish growing conditions, not guarantees. Your own garden, soil, and a bit of luck with the weather will always have the final word.