Welcome to gardening and the wonderful adventure of growing from seed. The reason you read about so many different ways of starting seeds is that plants are so different and so are the environment in which they grow. I suggest you just experiment this first year and using grow lights or a bright window find a good spot indoors where you try out different seeding methods. Scatter some seed on top of potting soil, plant some seed a bit deeper into the soil put some seeds into a plastic bag with a bit of soil, cover some seed once planted with plastic wrap and leave some seed uncovered. Use a mister to keep the soil barely moist. Then be very patient. The trees you are trying to grow could take months to germinate. Sometimes they may even need to sit all winter and then sprout when the days become longer in the spring. All the waiting and experimenting is worth it once that first seedling sprouts. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti