Before you start germinating your seed, here are a few explanations to help you understand about seed raising.

Seed can be raised in all sorts of containers:- seed boxes, plastic seed raising trays, foam fruit boxes, cell trays which allow you to raise an assortment of seedlings in smaller batches, toilet paper cardboard roll can be used as well, but only for fast germinating types of seed.

Other types that can be used are, the bottom portion of milk cartons, fruit juice cartons, egg cartons cells ( all these must have a hole punched into the bottoms for drainage).

PLANTING THE SEED
When the seed is planted it absorbs moisture and expands and in most cases the seed coat breaks away and the seed then begins to breathe. The seed you sow must absorb 40% - 60% of their weight in water to activate germination. So it is important that the medium you are using to germinate the seed is kept constantly moist.

The uptake of moisture proceeds as the seed carry on to respire. The seed's cells program is mobilized to drain the food stockpiled in the seed. Next the cells divide and the first part of the new plant to immerge in appearance from the seed is the radical root. The leaf shoot ( in some varieties the seed coat will appear stuck to the leaves) will push its way to the top and burst through the soil to reach the sunlight.

******************************

It is notable that Charles Darwin, in spite of his detailed experiments on inheritance in plants, did not discover the laws that are the basis of modern genetics. This was left to Abbot Mendel, who in 1865 published the principles of the inheritance of characteristics in the garden pea.

When Mendel crossed a pure breeding tall plant with a pure breeding dwarf plant, all progeny were tall. When these plants were self-pollinated, the next generation were approximately one-quarter dwarf and three-quarters tall. From this and other experiments Gregor Mendel deduced that the characteristics passed from parents to offspring were, paired; only one of the pair came from each parent, and that one could be dominant over the other. When he dealt with two pairs of characteristics, for example tall or dwarf peas and round or wrinkled seeds, he found that they segregated and recombined independently and in predictable ratios.

The importance of Abbot Mendel's work is that it showed there was no blending of the characteristics in the offspring. Mutations can be hidden as recessive characteristics in a population but are not diluted or lost. His work also showed that the recombining of ? factors' could give rise to plants with new characteristics. It is now known that Mendel's ?factors' are the genes carried by the chromosomes in the nucleus of the cell.

Mendel's work was not seriously examined until its rediscovery in 1900. Since then it has led to the modern science of plant breeding.

GREGOR MENDEL AND HIS PEAS is a section of interesting information and reading taken from "Mr. Fothergill's GROWING FROM SEED." Gardening Book.
Margaret Hanks, Murdoch Books, pg14
For more information I suggest you buy yourself a Mr Fothergill's Garden Guide "GROWING FROM SEED"

******************************

THERE ARE TWO MAIN WAYS TO SOW SEED

Always check the seed packet to make sure you sow the seed at the right time. Do not sow summer growing crops too early in spring before the ground warms as this can cause weak growing crops.

Raising the seed in seed boxes.
A lot of people prefer to sow their seed in seed raising trays. The trays should be deep enough to allow the seedlings to develop a good root system before they are transplanted into their final position.
Most Garden Centres sell plastic seed raising trays which are easy to keep clean.
I would suggest that you line the base with a sheet of newspaper to stop some of the fine partcles of the seed raising mixture from falling out of the drainage holes. There are Cell trays available to allow you to raise an assortment of seedlings in smaller batches. Cell trays are ideal for raising seeds like sweet corn where you need to be careful not to break the main root system. Egg cartons cell sections are ideal for raising seedlings in, but make sure that you punch a small drainage hole into the bottom.

I would suggest that you buy a good seed raising mixture to give the seeds a healthy start. Once the seedlings have developed they can be planted directly into the ground or the plants can be transplanted into individual larger pots. When the seedlings have developed an established root system transplant them into the ground. This is ideal when the soil is poor and heavy or you would like to have seedling at a more advanced stage when the new season starts.

Sowing seed directly into the ground.

This method is used mostly where large areas are to be seeded or you want to raise a few plants at a time. For instant, you might live in a court yard garden and you need to plant a few vegetables every few weeks so that there is a continuous crop over a long period of time.
Ground preparation before planting seed directly into the soil is very important.

Seed that is sown in the soil take up moisture from the films of water encircling the soil particles. The space between the particles contains the air. Heavy clay or silty soils have very small pore spaces, this causes too much water to be held and not enough air. Sandy type have too much pore spaces giving good air supply but will not hold moisture.

Before seeding the ground the top soil should be worked over to at least a depth of 20 - 25cm breaking up all the lumps and clods. Soil that is heavy in structure should have gypsum, compost and Coprapeat worked into the ground. Dig in some good compost finnish with the top 6cm light and fluffy in texture. Leave the area for two weeks before seeding. Any fertiliser such as Blood & Bone or Complete fertilisers should be mixed into the soil six weeks priar to seeding. When the weather is in the dry season fertiliser that are worked into the the ground should be watered regularly so it will disolve into the ground at a quicker rate and prevent burning of the seed.

SEED TAPE
Have you ever endeavoured to plant tiny vegetable in seed in rows? The wind generally blows at the wrong moment and the seed goes every where you don't want it to. Those fine flower seeds you buy in a packet has instructions on how far apart to plant the seed. You almost need to take out the magnifying glass to see what you are doing.
Well, there is an easier way to plant some varieties of seed.
"SEED TAPE" for precision planting, is seed spaced in biodegradable paper which allows even spacing and virtually eliminating the need for thinning.
Slow release fertilizers can be placed 3cm below the seed just before planting.
Larger seed such as peas, french beans, broad beans, sweet corn, etc., can be sown directly into the ground.