Starting from Seed

In the past, whenever I have planted my garden, I have always gone the easy route and bought seedlings from Home Depot or my local nursery.  However, the prices always seemed to quickly add up and soon I was having to justify to my husband (and myself) why I spent a month's worth of grocery money on plants that weren't even producing yet.  Last year was the first time I put some serious effort into having a majority of my garden planted from seed.  Not only would this help save on costs, but I found it also gave me more satisfaction.  Kind of like the difference you feel between making a cake from scratch or from the box.  Both taste good and will serve the purpose, but you just feel so much more accomplished when you put a little more oomph into it.  Plus, people are far more impressed when you say, "Yeah, I made that from scratch."  Not that I would ever be fishing for compliments or anything.

Anyhow, seeds.  One of the reasons why I shied away from them in the past was that they were wildly unsuccessful for me.  If I planted them straight in the ground then the birds would come by and eat many of them, and if I tried to start them indoors, I would just get frustrated with all the dirt spilling and my containers disintegrating and I would go out and buy plants anyway.  That is, until I discovered this beauty:

It is a mini greenhouse for starting off seeds.  While I am sure a real gardener could do just fine without this, let me list for you the reasons why I love it.

1) It is cheap - I buy mine for about $5 at Wal-Mart - cheaper than peat pots and seed starter mix.
2) It is complete - just add seeds.  I don't have to fuss with dirt or mix.  All I do is add water to the peat pellets, watch them while they puff up (which is more fun than you might think) and then press my seeds inside.
3) It is not messy - I pop the lid on and I can easily carry and move my 72 future plants without worrying about pots tipping or water leaking.
4) It takes the guesswork out of watering - the greenhouse lid holds in moisture so once the initial watering is done, you don't have to add anymore. 
5) It protects my seeds - the lid keeps birds and pests away from my seeds/seedlings so I don't have to.

This year I am starting my garden entirely by seed and I have three of these things sprouting away.  If you are planning on doing a smaller garden, they also offer smaller sizes as well so you aren't overwhelmed with plants.

It is so fun to watch your greenhouse go from this:

To this almost overnight (at least it feels that way to me).

How about you?  What are you secrets for starting seeds?