Basic: Put the seed pots/pans, or trays, in a plastic bag somewhere of suitable temperature until they germinate. But keep an eye on them, twice a day, and get them out of the bag, and onto a bright windowsill, the moment they germinate. I did this method for years until ...
Medium: get a windowsill propagator with no thermostat (like a Garland 7). They provide gentle bottom heat. ... I've had a couple of these for years
Cheap bu unsophisticated. My Garland 7 takes 7 x 1/4 sized seed trays, each with transparent lids (make sure you get the vent open as soon as the seeds germinate, and the lid off as soon as the seedlings are reasonably "up", otherwise the damp conditions will be inclined to cause damping-off)
Flashy: get a proper thermostatically controlled propagator.
Unless the seeds are in the plastic bag / propagator-transparent-cover enclosures for a long time (slow germinating seeds) then there will be enough moisture retained by the soil & covers until they germinate, so no need to water - the water evaporates, condenses on the "cover", and runs back into the soil.
I recommend getting some spare seed-trays - I do batches every fortnight; most vegetable seeds are up in a fortnight, and ready to come off the heat, but not ready to be pricked out - that takes another couple of weeks, so by the time they are pricked out the second batch are ready to come out of the propagator. This also covers you if the manufacturer stops makign the original sized trays-to-fit (as Garland did a couple of years ago when they revamped the model ...)
Issues:
You have to grow-on the seedlings you raise. That needs space, heat and light. If you don't have the light (e.g. a conservatory that is heated / heat-able) then don't start too early - otherwise the seedlings will just grow leggy. You could splash out and get a light box (like a T5 Lightwave) ... but space is a limited under those ... You can grow-on on windowsills, but that is not really a good enough light for young plants in February ... by March its getting reasonable, and by April they can go outside on many days in the month ...
You can cheat a bit by keeping things in seed trays as long as possible, so they are huddled together and don't take up too much room, but the moment you prick them out into, say, 3" / 9cm pots then you need quite a bit of space. Of course if you leave them too long, huddled up, that becomes a problem in itself.
If you will have the seedlings /small plants on a windowsill make sure you provide a reflector on the room-side of the windowsill - so that the plants get some light from "behind", and that will stop them leaning towards the window and becoming "drawn". I used to use an old cardboard box cut in half and lined with aluminium foil, but I now understand that Aluminium foil doesn't reflect light very well, and a board painted matt-white is better; polystyrene (ceiling tiles, or a sheet of insulation material) is actually a better light reflector, and if you want to go the whole hog them some Mylar sheet or something like that is the best light reflector (but you don't really need anything that exotic - unless you are growing Cannabis perhaps!!)
Medium: get a windowsill propagator with no thermostat (like a Garland 7). They provide gentle bottom heat. ... I've had a couple of these for years
Cheap bu unsophisticated. My Garland 7 takes 7 x 1/4 sized seed trays, each with transparent lids (make sure you get the vent open as soon as the seeds germinate, and the lid off as soon as the seedlings are reasonably "up", otherwise the damp conditions will be inclined to cause damping-off)Flashy: get a proper thermostatically controlled propagator.
Unless the seeds are in the plastic bag / propagator-transparent-cover enclosures for a long time (slow germinating seeds) then there will be enough moisture retained by the soil & covers until they germinate, so no need to water - the water evaporates, condenses on the "cover", and runs back into the soil.
I recommend getting some spare seed-trays - I do batches every fortnight; most vegetable seeds are up in a fortnight, and ready to come off the heat, but not ready to be pricked out - that takes another couple of weeks, so by the time they are pricked out the second batch are ready to come out of the propagator. This also covers you if the manufacturer stops makign the original sized trays-to-fit (as Garland did a couple of years ago when they revamped the model ...)
Issues:
You have to grow-on the seedlings you raise. That needs space, heat and light. If you don't have the light (e.g. a conservatory that is heated / heat-able) then don't start too early - otherwise the seedlings will just grow leggy. You could splash out and get a light box (like a T5 Lightwave) ... but space is a limited under those ... You can grow-on on windowsills, but that is not really a good enough light for young plants in February ... by March its getting reasonable, and by April they can go outside on many days in the month ...
You can cheat a bit by keeping things in seed trays as long as possible, so they are huddled together and don't take up too much room, but the moment you prick them out into, say, 3" / 9cm pots then you need quite a bit of space. Of course if you leave them too long, huddled up, that becomes a problem in itself.
If you will have the seedlings /small plants on a windowsill make sure you provide a reflector on the room-side of the windowsill - so that the plants get some light from "behind", and that will stop them leaning towards the window and becoming "drawn". I used to use an old cardboard box cut in half and lined with aluminium foil, but I now understand that Aluminium foil doesn't reflect light very well, and a board painted matt-white is better; polystyrene (ceiling tiles, or a sheet of insulation material) is actually a better light reflector, and if you want to go the whole hog them some Mylar sheet or something like that is the best light reflector (but you don't really need anything that exotic - unless you are growing Cannabis perhaps!!)
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