I have two questions:
1. This is about which plants need to be started from seed outside the garden and then transplanted and which need to be “Direct Sow”.
I’m thinking, however, since every plant will be in a container for the life of the plant, never in the ground, that every seed could be planted in the container to start with (I hate ending a sentence with a preposition). Am I correct - plant all the seeds directly in the container - or not?
2. How long are seeds viable (approximately) when you buy a package of 2013 seed, assuming you keep them in the envelope in a house that is between 74-79 degrees?
You should ignore 'direct sow' as it doesn't apply in your case, since you are growing only in containers.
Plant them all in the containers that they will live in.
It's ok to end a sentence in a preposition if you want to. ;)
/johnny
Viability depends on the type of seed. Corn for 2 years only. Most others at least three, and some are viable much longer. I have a link somewhere that tells. I’ll search for it later.
Direct sow is ok for all the seeds in Texas most likely, because you have a fairly long growing season. People who live in colder climates, start the seeds about 6 weeks before the last Spring frost, which increase the growning season by 42 days.
While corn is normally planted outdoors, in areas with shorter growing seasons, people do sometimes start these indoors too.
The seed packet will indicate instructions for starting seeds or simply planting them.
Starting the seeds early gives impatient gardeners something to do besides drool over seed catalogs, and gives you produce a little sooner.