Hefty Harvest: Sunderlands see ‘sweet’ success from gardening tips offered from Sycamore Shoals

Published 9:05 am Thursday, September 29, 2016

Star Photo/Curtis Carden                                    Bill Sunderland, left, and his daughter Mary Brooke were able to reap the fruits of the labor by producing over 40 pounds worth of sweet potatoes. Mary Brooke is holding the largest sweet potato, estimated to wear approximately 14 pounds.

Star Photo/Curtis Carden
Bill Sunderland, left, and his daughter Mary Brooke were able to reap the fruits of the labor by producing over 40 pounds worth of sweet potatoes. Mary Brooke is holding the largest sweet potato, estimated to wear approximately 14 pounds.

Lessons acquired from Sycamore Shoals State Park’s gardening workshop saw Bill Sunderland recently come up with a rather sizeable haul of produce.
“We have around 40 pounds,” Bill said, showing off a crate with three different sweet potatoes he was able to raise in his garden.
The sweet potatoes are just one of different types of vegetation that Sunderland produces from his garden. The potatoes were also grown in 4×8 and 4×4 beds with the assistance of his daughter, Mary Brooke Sunderland.
But when citing the successful harvest, Bill went on to credit the different tools he was able to learn from the gardening series hosted at Sycamore Shoals State Park by Ben Hunter.
“I learned a lot during his workshops,” he said, adding that he learned the various ways to grow vegetation, how to create a raised-gardening bed and how to create an irrigation system used near his home in Lynn Valley.
Hunter will host his final workshop of the year on Saturday, Oct. 15, titled “Get Ready for Spring: Winterizing Your Beds.” The session, sponsored by the Northeast Tennessee Master Gardeners, is free to the public and lasts from 9 a.m. to noon.

Photo By Bill Sunderland  Learning the traits provided by Ben Hunter at Sycamore Shoals, Bill Sunderland has been able to create over 10 beds in Lynn Valley, where the sweet potatoes were produced. Sunderland also grows a variety of other vegatation.

Photo By Bill Sunderland
Learning the traits provided by Ben Hunter at Sycamore Shoals, Bill Sunderland has been able to create over 10 beds in Lynn Valley, where the sweet potatoes were produced. Sunderland also grows a variety of other vegatation.

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