Probably the most important consideration, even if you grow in a greenhouse as I do, is that your plants MUST be acclimated to their new temporary home. When the evening temps will remain warm enough for your plants to be outside, begin by placing them in a filtered light situation for about a week. Then move them to a brighter area for a few days. Then you should be able to place them in full sun. I use plastic racks or reclaimed plastic pot holders from the big box stores because they toss them anyway, so they're free. I don't put sand or anything in them. I do raise my plants up off the driveway and place a plastic cover over them. The pics are from a few years ago. I have, since, enlarged the structure. It is easy to construct by anyone and not very costly. I disassemble it comes winter and store it in the garage. In the pic, I have my orchids but with the larger unit, my succulents share the space very nicely. Also, I now use 2" pieces of black PVC irrigation tube to hold the plastic on the frame.

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Hi Laura,
Your idea should work just fine. I put out a lot of plants in summer. Many of them are seedlings in smaller pots. I use any thing I can get my hands on like nursery flat trays, old cake pans and file or milk crates. I place the pots in snug and they hold each other up. I sometimes see bread crates* being used, but haven't been able to source those.

I'd be interested to hear what other people use, too.

Gail
*used to transfer the baked goods from the truck into the store.

Hello! I agree that slowly acclimating plants is a must to keep the foliage looking its best. I tend to huddle my plants close to deck-rails or other containers in order to provide partial shade and stability. A frame sounds like a great plan :-)

Josh

If your little plants are of like light and moisture requirements, why not make a mini garden?

The 2/3 buried in depth pebble idea is understood as a mixed opinion from me having minor pros and cons
Pros are sudden wind gust pot tipping prevention for pot stabilizing. Ultimately this method does help prevent root burning
Cons The pebbles retain moisture if/ when they get moisture/wet also decreasing better air circulation and slows the added heat build up the plants and roots seem to enjoy.

Neutral is knowing that pots also are available in heavier thicker, more stable in a wide selection of shapes and common colors and also have very good low profile ventilation.

Total paranoia is seeing after math of what happened to wind out there two years ago

Not that you'll need to re-pot the non eventful accidental broken pot, but just in case. Pots on a budget Ocean State Job Lot is where I found common T-Clay to be in better quality and weight than the other big box and crafting stores

Thinking if you've been to and saw Logees set up of rail dividers to hold pots up for easier inventory finding you'd be able to use thin threaded pipe or something to make shift this idea for small or tipsy pot stability.
Feeding into the mini garden idea there is nothing wrong with three -four haws in a 2 or 3 inch deep x 10 inch oval bonsai dish.

Distracting from the mini garden idea is knowing different haws may also have different root depth while having nearly the same water sun needs but would require added depth for roots in the pot size example.

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions. I'm pretty excited to bring my plants out this year.

I will be bring mine out probably next month. I had some smaller pots that I tucked in between larger pots. I had only on pot blow over through out the summer.
My aloes grew like mad being out in the sunlight. Im even bring out my hoyas this year.