I use pro mix and nuked it just to be on the safe side.I admit I love buying shoes, but they are always practical ones. I've always told DH that I must be missing a piece of the female chromosome. I hate nail polish and jewelry and baby showers and I only started carrying a pocketbook because my sister made one for me.
About planting sprouts, just put them in the dirt, burying the root. I start all my onions in a sprouter, but the peppers and tomatoes get paper towels, and the brassicas go directly in seed flats. I haven't started mine yet, but will hopefully get to it next week while I am on vacation (hooray!).
Whoever had the withered leaf brassicas, what kind of soil are you using? I used to combine seed starter mix with garden soil (to make it cheaper), but I found that certain plants were being wiped out as seedlings due to viruses or bacteria or something in my soil. I use the sterile mix now for most plants.
Congrats on your hatch, ash!