Keep a check on the seeds and push them back in if they do come up. Lightly mulching your seed bed helps to provide protection against heavy rain turning the seeds up in the winter but you should lighten or remove completely all the mulch cover in the spring-once any seedlings break through the soil's surface remove all mulch entirely if any has been left on. Make sure to keep the nursery bed uniformly and lightly damp but never soaking wet and never let it dry out completely . The Fall planting of seeds directly into a nursery bed for germination the following Spring naturally satisfies a seed's requirement for cold stratification . Successful seed germination relies to a great extent on gaining a 'feel' or understanding of what seeds need in order to sprout.
Experience is both the best teacher and 'greener' of thumbs.
Of course the best time for seeds to germinate is in Spring as then they have the whole summer to grow on. If you live in colder zones, it can help to pile some leaves and larger twigs around seedlings to give them a little winter protection. If the seedlings do not get both of these requirements they will exhibit spindly growth and will have a difficult time when eventually transplanted to the garden. Don't over do it. You need only fertilize when the soil has warmed up and things are in full swing-this is in fact the only time they can use the fertilizer.