Rick, you made that sound WAY complicated! No one will ever try to grow anything from seed ever again!
I buy ALL my pepper and tomato seed from Totally Tomatoes
http://www.totallytomato.com
and I use only Miracle Grow Seed Starting mix.
http://www.miraclegro.com/smg/...
I plant in 'six packs' in seed trays on a heat mat. My favorite place to shop for those items is Charley's Greenhouse and the local hydroponics shop (I pretend not to notice what they are really growing in their hydoponics system).
Bathtub? How does your wife feel about that? In my house, it would be what my husband thought.
Daisy