Hubby got his incubators (insulated 3ft. x 8 ft.box on heating pads & overhead grow lites in the garage) out & Park's sponges ready top plant his chile seed; he really swears by those sponges & gets nearly 100% germination in them! We got soil testing done & were surprised at what our garden soil needed: we have composted our original caliche soil for years & even hauled in sand from our son's side of the city so the soil is a nice black full of earth worms. Seems though we need to apply more nitrogen & phosphorus (potash mines in our state so potash level was fine in our garden soil). Will add each before we begin to plant this spring. Our local County Extension agent said the low pH should do better with the other depleted agents added. Hopefully the garden will do better this year though the chile has been doing great every year anyway!