The first meeting of 2008 took place on Wednesday 2nd January at the Forum Bar, Calis and took the form of the AGM – minutes can be read here - followed by the second half of the DVD on the Eden Project.

The next meeting is on Wednesday 6th February at the Ziraat Odasi in Patlangic.  It is just before Letoon Hospital and opposite the main Nissan dealership – and it has a huge sign saying ‘Ziraat Odasi’ outside.  Meet outside the building at 2pm.

The Ziraat Oda is the Chamber of Agriculture an organisation dedicated to supporting farmers.  They have a fully equipped lab where they do soil and water tests for 45 and 20YTL respectively.  Unfortunately results take 10-15 days so we won’t be getting any instant tests done during our visit, but if you want to know whether or not your well water is safe to drink, now you know how to find out.

We will be given a talk on the different types of soil found in the various localities where members live and common plant problems, particularly with reference to fruit trees.  I shall bring a piece of citrus foliage with leaf curl to see what they recommend.  If anyone has other evidence to contribute please bring it along.  However, the Agricultural Engineer, Devrim, who will be leading the session says he has little experience with decorative plants so, unless your problem is something that also attacks agricultural crops you could be disappointed.

Hope to see lots of you on the 6th.