I have ordered my seeds from the BCSS and can’t wait to get them.  Opinions vary on when is the best time to grow from seed.  I like to start them into growth as soon as I get them so that their first growing season can be as long as possible.  I use a growing medium of three parts John Innes, two parts fine chick grit and one part silver sand.  I cook this in the microwave for about ten minutes.  While this is cooling I wash my pots in very hot soapy water.  When pots are dry and potting mixture is cool enough to handle I fill the pots, gently tamp down the surface and sow the seed.   I find that it is easier to sow the seed evenly if I empty it from the packet onto a sheet of white paper that has been creased down the middle.  This means that I can see even the finest of seeds and try not to get them all clumped up together.  I stand the pots in cooled boiled water until the moisture comes to the surface I then put them on a clean tray to drain before sealing them in plastic bags.  I germinate the cactus seed in a propagator but find that mesemb seeds give good germination on a warm windowsill, away from warm sunshine, where there is a distinct variation in temperature between day and night.  Cactus seedlings can survive in these plastic bags for many months but I usually give the Mesemb seedlings some air as soon as five or six have germinated.  I still keep them shaded, as hot sun can wipe out a pot of seedlings in a very short space of time.