There are growers from the Carolina's around here, and I was hoping some of them would jump in.

Are you looking for varieties that are North Carolina heirlooms? Heirlooms that will do well in NC? Or both? It could make a difference. My line of Little White Cukes, for instance, comes out of North Carolina. But I only grow them for historical reasons, as I don't think they have much taste.

Rather than naming varieites in your categories (there are so many of each) I'm going to make a couple of recomendations.

First, you should join one or more seed saving organizations. Contact with the group and it's members is the best way I know to quickly learn about heirlooms and how they'll do in your area. SSE (Seed Savers Exchange), out of Decorah, IA, is the largest such organization in the world, and through it's annual yearbook you can order varieties from other NC growers. Contact: www.seedsavers.org.

AHSC (Appalachian Heirloom Seed Conservancy), based in Richmond, KY, focuses on preserving heirlooms of the mountain south. There are several NC accessions in its collection, plus its members have others. Contact: KentuckySeeds@hotmail.com

Next, don't hesitate to ask questions of the specialty heirloom seed houses. I'm sure the folks at places like Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Tomato Growers Supply, and similar southern-based suppliers will be glad to make recommendations for you.

For learning about seed saving, you really should obtain a copy of "Seed To Seed." This is the bible of seed saving, and with it you'll learn how to maintain purity of each veggie type, and the mechanics of saving its seed.

There are numerous heirlooms-oriented events, and you might think about attending one or more of them. Baker Creek puts on two of them each year, one in the spring and the other in late summer.

Coming up in September, for the first time, will be an heirlooms fesitival at Monticello---an ideal location, if you ask me. Only the date--September 8--is firm so far. The plans call for seminars, display booths, seed swaps, and all sorts of harvest activities. You might keep that in mind, as Virginia isn't that far a drive from you.

The annual AHSC Fall Conference is slated for October 5-7, in Berea, Kentucky. As usual, the line-up of speakers, and the formal seed-swaps, make this one of the most meaningful events in the heirlooms world. The conference is open to non-members.

Gardenlad, I couldn't have said it better... and now I won't have to. You not only stole my fire, you took my matches! ;-)

Yeah, well, you can always start a blaze by rubbing two boy scouts together. ;>)

Not sure which varieties I want to try. Hmong red cucumber (rareseeds.com) looks interesting and there's a fair number of Hmong immigrants in our area- so I thought that would be kinda cool. I think heirlooms native to this area that taste good would be preferable. However, if it is something that just has a fascinating feature (color, shape, pattern, historical info) I may also be interested. Or something that has been found to grow well here is also OK.
I will check out the orgs you mentioned and start deciding which varieties I want to try first. I would also like to do some wintersowing. When I figure out what varieties, I will post under the exchange here or perhaps wintersowing and see if anyone is willing to adopt this newbie. GW is such a great resource. I am learning so much. Thanks for your help!

One more suggestion. Although you can grow a lot in a small area using the Square Foot system, perhaps not as much as you think.

3 x 3, or even 4 x 4 is really a rather small bed that you will quickly outgrow.

Let me recommend that you build a larger bed; perhaps 3 or 4 by ten or 12. If you don't immediately use all of it, leave it fallow, with a cover crop of some sort. But I think you'll find that you _will_ need the larger bed, particularly with the diversity you're looking at.

Considering size... I have at least 2 other "free" spots in my yard that may also be turned into gardening space. There is also another spot that I have already dedicated to flowers, lavender, maybe some other stuff (not sure what else I want there yet). So a total of 4 gardening sites. My back stoop is surrounded on both sides by calla lillies, they were already here when we bought the house in August, a lot of my neighbors have them as well. They also have a lot of tropical looking stuff growing that I don't even know the names of- plants that are obviously not native to Marion, NC. I would say the space at the front of my yard is about 7-8 ft by 4ft. The other possible spot is about 4 by 6 ft. So with the planning and info I have right now, I will start early in the spring, if that is not enough, I can prepare one of these other sites mid or late spring. Thanks for the insight. Any other suggestions greatly appreciated!