Having said that lets start with the basics.
Seeds: We have saved seeds from the previous year at the end of the planting season or purchased on clearance sale and planted them the following year. However, if you feel more comfortable using fresh seed go for it.
Germinating Seeds: We have found some seeds are easier than others to germinate, for example Cucumber seed germinates faster then Tomato seed and Tomato seed germinates faster then Bell Pepper seed, one of the hardest to germinate is Bitter Melon also called Karela, so when you germinate seeds along side like cucumber and bell pepper and some seeds germinate while others are no show, don’t be alarmed, give the bell pepper some more time to germinate.
Germination Temperature: We have found ideal germination temperature to be 85 degrees Fahrenheit, don't raise the temperature too high as I have read that seeds which germinated above 95 degrees Fahrenheit, don't survive.
Germination Box: Some people like to put their pots (containing soil and seed) on window sills, others like to put them on top of the refrigerators, some like to use heating or germinating pads bought at nurseries or hardware stores, all these are good options but if you are serious about growing food here is what we have done, by no means this is the last word in germinating seeds, it's just another way to do it, if you have an easier or better way to do it, please email us and we will share it with others, general idea is to grow food...period. We picked an old refrigerator from the landfill,  they were happy to get rid of it as they have to pay to dispose it off, needless to say it was
FREE, we put a space heater and an inexpensive thermometer inside, put a piece of tile in front of the heater, turned the heater on, kept adjusting the temperature on the heater till such time we got a steady 85 degrees on the thermometer. We also got rid of the extra plastic on the inside of the door leaving the insulation in it's place, did the same with the freezer door, made holes on the floor of the freezer so that heat can rise to the freezer part of the refrigerator.
 We adjusted the height of the shelf to accommodate flats with the dome on top
(to be continued)
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