I’ve taken the plunge, set up a timer, got the water flowing, and have planted out my tiny tiny seedlings. Sorry plants are such babies that they’re barely visible in this photo but it’s mostly spearmint and thyme. As other things germinate I’ll plant out different herbs, hope to have oregano, spicy globe basil, marjoram, dill, and nasturtiums.  The first generation of plants have been in the windowfarm for a couple days now and they seem to be happy.

Had some minor issues when I started the system pumping on a regular basis where one column was dripping beautifully and the other dripped in fits and starts. Turned out the top reservoir was not level. Now I have about three gallons of water in the system, timer set to run the pump for three minutes every two hours, and water flow seems constant.

Next big step is adding nutrients to the water in the system. I’m worried about the smell of the organic fertilizer I’ve used in my regular garden in the past. I’ve spilled so much water on the floor during setup that I’m worried the room will soon reek of fish fertilizer. But I’m going to start with a small amount and hope that the smell won’t be too strong.

Once things are growing well I’m hoping to upgrade the system to using an electronic float switch and relay to power the pump when the bottom reservoir reaches a certain level. I’m really eager to get an Arduino attached to my system in hopes of learning to monitor environmental data. I want to use the windowfarm as a testbed for a data gathering and  control system that I can eventually use with my rooftop chile garden for remote monitoring and hopefully remote control of watering and fertilization.