Has anyone successfully started tomato and/or cucumber seeds directly in the garden with wow?

I have 10" deep raised beds (new this year)filled with a good compost, peat, vermiculite mix and after noticing how warm the mix was, I bought some Wall o Waters to try. I put in some tomato transplants (which are doing well) and now I'm antsy to try putting some pole beans and cucumber seeds directly into that warm mix with the added protection of the wow's for insurance.

In the past, when I gardened in the cold soil, all my attempts at early planting seemed to be for naught---the seeds put in after the soil warmed always caught up to the early planted ones. But---I never had such warm mix to plant in before.

The WOW homepage says you can do it but they're trying to sell me something.I plan on trying them out anyway but I'm curious about other's experiences.

Thanks!