Finally made it to the end of this project. I had to take time for some distractions like playing gigs and recording stuff (oh yeah, that) but it was never far from my mind.
I screwed around with the hoses and tube levels for a few days just trying to get a decent water level and good flow without any leaks. As you can tell, I wasn't in my right mind putting furniture skids on it. I jacked it up higher to facilitate drainage and put some freaking casters on it. It's still pretty heavy.
plumbing done
I taped off the glass and went digging for a rattle can of metallic blue I thought I had stashed but only found copper. Oh well. I used most of a quart of Kilz exterior primer on the base.
dog approved
I stumbled across a hydroponic shop in Atwater and got the big lesson about how such and such fertilizer is better for hydroponics than plain old Miracle Grow, so 50 bucks later I walked out with a gallon of the right stuff.
I put a handful of clean gravel in the bottom of each planter, gently washed the dirt off the roots of my strawberry starters and added some pond plant medium. $25 for a bag of stuff that looked suspiciously just like kitty litter. Go figger.
strawberries
I had to wet the kitty litter for a day or two, but now they seem to be taking hold and not dying, so I'm gonna call this one a wrap. I'll update this when I see some strawberries!