Hoser Last evening, after voting and before dinner, glass of red wine in hand, I decided to install an automatic watering system in my garden. I had forgotten until recently that I had all the components to attach and snake soaker hoses through the flower beds in my backyard. With July and August ahead of us, having a system that will regularly get water to the plant's roots will be good for everyone. What surprised me is that it only took about 45 minutes to get it up and running. This is what I did: Installed a double tap with separate flow controls. Attached regular hose to one tap. Attached small non-soaker hose extension to the other (you don't want soaker hose running directly from the tap outlet if it's not close to a plant bed.). Attached soaker hose to hose extension. Wound first 25 foot hose through bed on south side of yard. Kept it in place with stakes. Attached 50 foot hose to end of the first and wound it counter-clockwise through the rest of the garden. Turned on water. Adjusted postioning of hoses. Got very wet. Finished wine. If you're going to try this (and I highly recommend you do if you have any kind of garden to maintain), make sure you purchase some extra washers to keep all the connections tight. Also, you don't have to go with soaker hoses (although they are the best at getting precious water where it needs to go--in the ground), you could embed sprinklers instead. Tomorrow: Install an automatic timer to run it for a short period every night. Later: Perhaps a wicking system for all my flower pots!