If you start your seeds indoors, you will need to “harden” them before you plant them outside. For more information on starting seeds indoors see my prior post on the subject.

About a week or so before you want to plant your seed starts in the garden begin to acclimate them to the temperature, elements, and sunshine by taking them outside.

First, start in the shade for about an hour on the first day, then 2-3 hours on the next day in the shade.

After 2-3 days in the shade begin to expose them to the sun for an hour at first and then 2-3 hours for a couple of days and then more.

The amount of days and time each day aren’t as important as the general rule that you just need to acclimate the plants. If you don’t harden the plants they usually won’t die, but they will get stressed and slow down growth and lose some vigor for a while, but then they will usually recover. This process should be intuitive and if you forget to take them out one day, don’t stress.

After they are acclimated then you can plant them in the garden or just keep them out all day in their pots (recommended if still to early to plant), however, I still bring mine in at night until they are in the garden. The reason for this is because usually the reason that they are not in the garden is because it is too early to plant, but that doesn’t stop me from hardening them when I believe they are ready.

Here is a picture I took today of my lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and onions that I have hardening out in the sun. I just have them out in a southern exposure next to my garage door. I pull them into the garage at night.

I will probably plant everything but the onions sometime next week. When you do plant in the garden, try to do it on an overcast day to limit the stress put on the plant during transplant.

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