'Good Morning America' visits Norfolk writer's garden

It was her horticultural rather than literary talents that brought a "Good Morning America" camera crew to author Sue VanHecke's Colonial Place home in Norfolk on April 24.

VanHecke showed off the vegetables and greens she cultivates in every spare inch of her yard for the ABC-TV network show's segment on small-plot intensive gardening that aired April 29.

She sells the organic produce to Sydney Meers, owner of Stove, The Restaurant in Portsmouth at half of what Meers would pay a bigger distributor.

VanHecke said she makes $100 a week from her minifarm and told the TV audience, "It helps to have a little extra cash in your pocket to pay for ballet lessons and putting gas in the tank."

She is, perhaps, better known for her writing, including the history of Colonial Place and Riverview and "Race With the Devil: Gene Vincent's Life in the Fast Lane," the story of Norfolk's own early rock 'n' roller.

Agriculture may be her new forte, however, as she plans to double the size of her "farm" this year.

"We're flipping all the flower beds into vegetable beds, focusing on specialty, heirloom tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squash - all bred for flavor, just like Grandma's garden."

VanHecke found out on a Wednesday night that the "Good Morning America" crew was arriving the next morning.

"So I madly got out the lawnmower, mowed and weeded," she said. h