This year I'm going to start all of my "start before frost date" seeds the way germination tests are done. A few seeds will be placed in a wet paper towel, folded in half and put into a clear plastic bag. The bags will be set aside in a warm spot out of direct sunlight for a few days. Then they will be checked regularly to see if any of the seeds are germinating. This method is good because it keeps each variety with it's own kind, so germination (per packet) should be pretty uniform. It also gives each seed variety it's own personal humidity bubble. Because the bag is clear and the paper towel is thin - you can see the seeds pretty clearly when held up to the light - so no need to open the bags to check! This method will save me the time and expense of having peat containers go to waste with seeds that don't germinate and give me an idea right away which seeds may need extras set aside to germinate to get the number of plants I'm hoping to grow.
I went ahead and purchased a bunch of very small plastic plant ID stakes from eBay. These are small enough that they will fit into the small craft/seed baggies I'll be using for germination. This way I can write the variety on the stick and set it inside the bag with the seeds. When seeds germinate and move into soil in a pot, the seed marker can go with it, to be replaced by a larger version (which I have my eye on but have not yet purchased) once they're planted out into the garden.
I'm so glad I decided to leave the tomato plants under the light. I thought about dumping them out once all the tomatoes had been harvested. This morning I found this. The stringy Maglia rosa plant has offered up a single new blossom!