Introduction:

The heirloom vegetables can be defined as the valued living hand-me-downs from generation to generation. The unique characteristics of the plants have been preserved very carefully by open pollination over the years.

They could be a couple of hundreds years old or only twenty years old. It is usually defined that the seed has to be at least 50 years old to qualify as "heirloom", but it is about the history of the plant that makes it so unique and different from any other ornamental plants we grow in the gardens. Each has its own story that is very personal and usually related deeply to regional history. These stories also provide view into the economic history and the social history of the time that the vegetables were widely grown.

We can easily find some popular heirloom seeds through excellent organizations, like the Seed Savers Exchange and Monticello. However, the most interesting and fascinating heirloom plants can be found in our neighbors' garden beyond the fence.

Knoxville is fortunate to have such a wonderful master heirloom gardener, John Coykendall, in this community. His passion in heirloom seed saving started back in 1959, and his rare collection has been growing tremendously since then. His oral history about each heirloom vegetable is so unique that we cannot read about it in any gardening or history books.

This web site is a valuable lesson on how to cultivate and save heirloom seeds to protect genetic diversity, and appreciate these heirloom vegetables in your gardens.