Ways to start seeds into life

Tell us how you start your seeds, especially those you start indoors prior to planting out.
Do you chit them, soak them, in bags of compost, straight into pots/trays of compost or any magic mixture.............or do you just ask them nicely to grow?
Different techniques for different seeds? 
Please share.

Most of mine are sown into trays in compost. Mostly in the polytunnel in unheated propagators.
Tomatoes, chilli, sweet peppers, aubergine in the heated propagator in the house.
Carrots, parsnips and spring onions are the only things I direct sow.
I talk to them all evening morning   .

Lettuce I sow in a pot, put the pot into the fridge overnight, then bring into the warm. Never fails.
I chit any seeds big enough to handle individually, so that I only sow viable ones.
I sow all the rest in pots or modules, on the windowsill or in the cold greenhouse depending on hardiness and time of year. Except carrots.
Carrots I sow direct. I make a slit in the ground with my spade, fill it with old compost, water the compost and sow into that.

One question, Martin, if I may - how do you chit your big seeds?

I usually chit the big seeds on a soggy kitchen paper towel in a glass ramekin, covered with a houseplant saucer, on my desk where I can check them at least twice a day. I freshen the the soggy paper every few days if the seeds haven't germinated.

Thank you .
Five old Uchiki Kuri seeds now sitting on damp paper in a glass dish with a cover,........its a test.

Tom's, cucs and courgettes individual pots in the heated prop.
Peas soaked overnight, chitted in a sprouter, then sown into guttering.
French beans and sweet peas sown into loo rolls.
Lettuce, kales, spinach a pinch sown in a small pot then potted on into newspaper pots.
Radishes straight into pots later in season into ground.
Parsnips pre-chitted in take out trays then sown in the ground.
Will post more after a think.

I chit early b beans in gh on damp kitchen towel in old marg boxes then tx to root trainers. Sweet corn on damp kitchen towel in marg box in airing cupboard then into root trainers. Peas the same.
Chard, beetroot carrots and later peas direct sow. DFB and CFB into modules in gh, and some to chit just in case of failures. Cucurbits into modules in prop.
Lettuce into modules or pots and sometimes transplant but more often they get forgotten. Anything else is winging it.

I chit peas and beans in the house before potting up. Saves space but mostly to stop the mice having a party.

Most seeds are single sown if they are big enough to handle.... though some I will single sow with tweezers. This is usually the case if they are autumn sown as they are germinated in the greenhouse.

If I had more small modules I would single sow everything... but when the weather warms up this isn't really an option as they dry out too quick. 

Most are started on my heated bench in the greenhouse or the propagators in the house in Spring. Just to get them going quickly.

Some flowers need cold nights/warms days to germinate - larkspur/orlaya. These are just left in trays. These seem to be temperamental so I often use a mushroom tray and prick out when necessary.    

Toms, peppers, aubs & chillies go in pots of seed compost in the heated prop in the house. Then pricked out. For these I've previously successfully sown individual seeds into coir plugs in the heated prop and I'm going back to that next year as this year (and last) hasn't gone so well. Celery also goes in the heated prop in a pot to be pricked out later.
Things like cucumbers, courgettes, squash, melons, sweetcorn are sown usually in individul pots in a mix of coir & mpc in the house; cucumbers & melons may go in the heated prop if there's room and depending on how warm the house is.
Lettuce I sow in trays in coir/mpc mix and always at the end of the afternoon so they get the cooler evening temperatures for the first 12 hours or so.
Turnips & bettroot are module sown in a coir/mpc mix, 2 or 3 to a singe pot and will be planted out as a whole thing. I do a small amount most weeks.
French beans are sown in a big pot in mpc, 2 pots 7 beans per pot as 14 make a good row! They don't seem to mind be brutally taken out of the pot, pulled apart and planted out! The frst batch will start in the house, subsequent sowings outside.
Leeks go thinly in big deep pots, about 100 seeds per pot in coir/mpc mix and will stay there until late June when they're planted out It seems to make no difference to the eventual size of the mature leek whether they're proper pencil sized or more normal darning needle size when they go out into the ground.
I tried chitting chilli seeds once but decided I'm too clumsy to then handle them! I should probably do this with some of the bigger, older seeds, but never remember.