So the self irrigating planter has been successful so far. I've only watered once since it started and we have a bumper crop of lettuce I started from seed in December. A sheet over the top protected the seedlings from the frost during the cold in January. Two weeks ago I went and bought a bunch of plants to add to it.
One week after planting
Two weeks after planting
This got pretty crowded as the plants grew quickly. It soon became apparent that we needed to move up construction of the planned second planter box.
The second one is smaller (5x2) because there was a limited amount of remaining fence pieces from the various hurricanes. It has the same sub irrigation system. Because it is 5" deeper I moved two of my larger tomato plants from the first box to the second one along with basil, broccoli, cilantro started from seed and spinach seeds. The tomatoes were a little unhappy about this to begin with but I'm sure they will recover and thrive.
I added another hot pepper to the first box but mostly just gave the plants more room to grow. We also put a navel orange tree in the yard for future shade and fruit. Now we just need to paint the fence...