Time for seeds again

Plum tomatoes, February 2025

I start most of my seeds in pots and transplant out, seeing as I have pretty bad pest pressure at my allotment;  I only direct seed things that can't really transplant:  mainly root vegetables.  At home I have more success with direct seeding, but there are still some crops that need warmth to germinate which won't do so in my climate.  For instance, I have to start tomatoes indoors;  they will sprout outdoors but not until around June, which is too late for any hope of fruit off them.  My preferred method is to broadcast some seeds into a medium sized pot and then prick them out individually when they grow a few leaves (not quite there yet in the above photo).

Onions already pricked out, February 2025

The onions have already been pricked out, though they don't look much better for it!  I did my favorite pot-filling method:  fill half the pot with a wad of fluffed up sheep's wool, fill it to the top with potting compost, then prick the seedling into this.  It seems that the wool helps the roots spread, grow and transplant easier;  I've been using this method for two years now, though my first time trying it with onions.

Also pictured above (in the central pot covered in a plastic bag) are my cherry tomatoes, now emerging;  I take the bag off as soon as they start to come up.  Not pictured:  a new to me method of germinating seeds in a sealed ziploc bag.  I have some old seed which I don't want to waste potting compost/counter space/time/etc on, just in case they don't sprout.  So I have taken several sheets of toilet paper, soaked them and put the seed on these, and sealed flat in a ziploc bag on my kitchen counter.  So far I've had five chili pepper seeds germinate;  these five were sown into individual pots as soon as they sprouted a tiny root;  I'm hoping for a few more (I've got some herb, flower and veg seed all taking this treatment).

My goal is a few seeds every day, whether a pot or a tray.  I've already started some seeds outdoors too (mainly broadcast in pots).  I've been saving little plastic cream tubs all year long to hopefully keep up with the seeds this year--recall I ran out of pots last year before I ran out of seeds.