Hi Jeanne,
I have a big plastic bowl I use for these projects. Put the dry soil in the bowl, add water and moosh with your hands until the moisture is absorbed. Keep adding water and mooshing until all the potting soil is evenly moist, not soaked.
You can gently push the seeds into the surface of the soil. The rule is bury a seed to twice its height. Just barely under the surface to maybe a 1/4 inch down max for tomatoes.
Yes, water from the bottom. I always cut one cell out for watering so 71 cells with soil and seeds. One cell for watering. I also spray the surface of the soil after I plant my seeds but I use fungicide instead of water.
Give your seeds some bottom heat. If you don't have a heat mat, put you seed tray on top of the refrigerator. Don't let the seeds dry out but don't drown them either.
Good Luck!
Daisy
