You might blend standard potting mix with bark fines to assure good aeration and a drier surface - but I sing that hymn in about every other post I write.
Can I urge you to consider putting some absorbent cloth under the cups for bottom-watering? That helps me reduce my habit of over-watering seeds, and keeps the bottom of small pots well-drained and aerated. (To be published Jan 14, maybe, or see:
http://garden.org/blogs/view/R....)
>> I am really not an indoor seed starting person. I am a buy a seedling already or wait till seeds can be started outdoors type of person.
How do you feel about plastic film hoop tunnels, or a PVC pipe lean-to? Basically a large cold frame to keep them warm enough in late Feb and March. I know you have a driveway that keeps plants warm. I have heard the claim that once tomato seedlings are well up and have a few pairs of leaves, cold nights just stop them from growing, they don't die from it. I don't know if that kind of cold is defined as "45 F" or "40 F", but someone here will know the tradeoff between an acceptable amount of cold and unacceptably strong light.
After the seeds come up, they truly will want a lot of light, or they will get leggy and turn into pipe cleaners with one pair of leaves, and then flop over.
Often sunny windows get too hot in the daytime and too cold at night, but do you have a very sunny room somewhere?
Once you have sprouted a tray or two indoors, a cold frame gives you someplace outside where you can move them to make room for starting two more trays. If you start seeds in small cups, and then pot up to bigger cups or quarts, they will take up 4-6 times more room.
I found that once I got a tray of seeds to sprout, I was willing to carry it indoors and outdoors any time an extra-cold night came. Out for the sun, in for the warmth. But if two trays of seeds become 8 trays of pots, the outdoor area had better be able to hold them until spring is well and fully sprung.
If you use plastic cups, you'll want something like a tray to carry them around in (they do get tippy). Some people like cat litter trays or dishwashing tubs from the Dollar Store.
If it will never have to sit on wet soil, I like shallow cardboard boxes ("trays") lined with plastic from a heavy plastic bag. But if I set that on wet soil, the cardboard dissolves.
I've gone crazy with plastic trays (128-cell trays for sprouting small seeds and 72-cell or 50-cell trays for potting up. Some people use 48 or 36-cell trays. They don't tip over! But I understand you don't want to go in that direction.
>> I don't have a shop light or fluorescent system. Don't want to buy one either. Would much rather buy plants instead.
Wow, I'm the exact opposite. I would rather buy a few lights and then grow hundreds of plants. But it is true that, if you can find what you want, vegetable seedlings are fairly cheap.
Do you know anyone who likes to shop thrift stores or Habitat for Humanity "restores"?
