MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – Gardeners from across the region gathered at Northern Michigan University yesterday for a full day of tips, talks, and tools.
The Michigan State University Extension hosted its annual Smart Gardening Conference at NMU’s Northern Center, covering everything from healthy soils and rain gardening, to invasive species identification and climate change solutions for U.P. gardeners.
Speakers included MSU Extension educators, a Michigan Tech professor, and local experts sharing research-backed strategies that home gardeners can put to use in their own yards.
MSU Extension Educator Elliot Nelson says the conference is about bringing university research directly to the people who can use it. “Michigan State University Extension is a very large organization, we have over 500 folks across the state, and our job is to help bring science and research from the univeristy to communities to use it,” says Nelson. “And that’s what we’re doing today. We actually have folks here in the U.P., and so we help a lot of people by training what we call “master gardeners.”
More information on MSU Extension programs in the U.P. can be found at www.canr.msu.edu.
