Some things do require complete darkness to germinate. You can just wrap your jug with newspaper and put it in a shaded spot.
There are other ways to cover them too. Lightly with vermiculite is one of the easiest.

:) Fran

For every day there is also a night.

On the url below I have lots of really good links to information about light requirements. Delphiniums are ones that are notoriously described as needing dark to germinate but this is a fallacy. The Dowdeswell Delphiniums link is particularly helpful, well, I think so ;-)

T

(I just checked the links on that page and see that three need updating---grrrr, this is huge problem on the internet when educational resource links go stale. The Dowdeswell link is still good.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Light Requirements

I didn't bother to read the backs of seed packs this year. I just sowed them, kept them watered, and haven been planting out when it looked like most of the seeds had germinated.

Sow it and forget it.

some seeds have multiple germination requirements. Put your container into black plastic bag.
Mother Nature is very adaptable but some seeds have to go different ways to ensure production- some need to be treated with fire/ smoke, some go through digestive system of animals, some have to stay outside for couple of years, and some won't germinate without certain fungi present in the soil.