Gardeners start the planting season with the annual Bay de Noc Gardening Conference

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) – Gardeners of all skill levels got a head start on the spring season in Escanaba on Saturday. About 100 people attended the annual Bay de Noc Gardening Conference at Bay College.

Event Coordinator Warren Schauer says the conference gets them into the gardening mood.

“You always want to start thinking about laying out your garden plan, what kind of plants you want to have,” Schauer said. “If you’re looking at your lawn, your landscape, how you want that laid out.”

Attendees could choose from 20 classes related to gardening, such as Instructor Jim Isleib’s class on growing better apple trees. He says trees need annual pruning, fertilizer and methods to control diseases and insects.

“Apple scab is probably the big disease,” Isleib said. “And the two big insect problems are apple maggots; they’re the ones that make the apples looks dimply and have brown streaks through them.”

Taking care of your tree also means using the correct tools to make a cleaner cut for its overall health.

“[There are] two types: the anvil pruner, where the blade comes down against a flat surface, then the scissors type, where the blades cross, so you wanna use the scissors type,” he explained. “The anvil type pruner…when it gets down to that flat surface that it strikes against, it crushes the tissue instead of cutting it.”

Schauer says there is always something to do with gardening, no matter the season.

“It’s always a continually learning subject,” he said. “[There are] all kinds of plants and things, and people are always improving their gardens, so. It’s a never-ending thing, it’s a hobby people love, it’s one of the most popular hobbies in the country.”

He says the conference is a way for people to grow along with their gardens.

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