I was greatly surprised to discover last night at the first informal meeting of Christchurch (NZ) based DIY Devotees, that installing home irrigation systems wasn't as simple as I had first thought. In my naiveté, I thought it was a simple matter of going to the local hardware store, getting a home starter kit, putting it all together, getting a timer, slapping that on and there you have it – effortless watering, happy plants and a relaxed homeowner, gazing out the window looking at the garden grow. How surprised I was to discover the need to check the water pressure coming out of the taps; the need for different sized pipes, depending on how close or far away the piping is from the tap; how some chemicals within the pipe may be corrosive and damage glass and surrounds, when the tap is turned on; the need to take off the timer over winter, as water in the pipes may freeze in cold weather and damage the whole system and worst of all, dead earwigs seem to appear in the best system, eventually. Oh well, back to the drawing board to work around these fish hooks….