I just got the Self-Watering Seed Starter from Lee Valley. It is a lot like all of those other plastic mini-greenhouses 
except that it always keeps the soil moist by drawing water from a reservoir underneath. This is really nice, because it should keep the seeds at the right moisture level.
It is pretty easy to put together and setup. It is made out of some plastic material that looks sort of like sytrofoam, but seems denser. It actually seems sturdy to me, hopefully it is. one you have it setup and filled with soil, you plant some seeds and fill up the reservoir. The directions say you are supposed to use a mixture of percilite, vermcilite and peat moss, but I couldn’t find all this so I simply used some potting soil. Anyhow I pressed it down pretty good because I thought it would help the capillary action.
I bought two trays, and plant a total of 6 different seeds. Since there are 24 “pots” in each tray I planted a total of 8 of each seed… and actually a bit more because I wanted to make sure at least one grew in each “pot”. I planted:
- Sweet Basil
- A Lettuce Mix
- Chives
- Sweet 100 Tomatoes
- Romenesca Broccoli
- Swiss Chard
I am not really sure what I am going to do with them all once they come up… I am a little short on space and light. Guess I will worry about that if everything actually comes up!
Self-Watering Seed Starter ~ $16 – Lee-Valley