Hee hee.......yes I have done this in past years.....its lots of good exercise and at times a pain in the astilbe....but they need light right? and it works for hardening them off.....by the time they can be left out overnight .......they are hardened off and can be planted. I usually start this mid April. This year however with the greenhouse being built, I have decided to wait and just move everything into the greenhouse. A lot less time and work......well I am hoping anyway.

Sierra....the lazy gardener.

My indoor lighting is very limited so I really depend on getting the seedlings outside during warm days for much better light. I have a mini greenhouse that seems to keep it a bit warmer than the outdoor temperatures (if it's sunny) but lately it's been so nice I've even had things directly on the deck.

I am careful not to burn the leaves. At first even total shade is great, then graduate to some morning sun. My north deck is ideal because right against the house it gets 3 hours of morning sun, but at the other end of the deck it gets 5 hours. I find once plants are used to 5 hours they can easily go into full sun.

My theory is that the plants don't like huge temperature fluctuations, so when the seedlings are very young I will bring in at night if only to keep the soil in the pots warmer or prevent damping off. If nighttime lows are a bit warmer (maybe 6 C or above), I usually just leave the plants in the mini greenhouse for the night. If I don't want to bring them in and it's hitting near freezing I have been known to just put a wool blanket over the greenhouse. I sort of judge what the forecast for tomorrow is like as well. If it's going to be cold tonight and tomorrow looks crummy, they might as well come back inside. On ocassion, if the day is going to be very cool or cloudy and rainy, the plants have been known to just sit on the kitchen table for a day. If the cool spell lasts a few days, I am scrambling to find room on window sills to at least give them some sort of light. Sometimes I have been scammed by the weather forecasters, putting the plants outside on a sunny morning then leaving for work, only to have it end up cloudy and cool.

I don't worry too much about wind aside from knowing that plants in sun and wind tend to dry out faster. That's where I have a problem sometime. I am not home during the day to water plants, so in the morning I sort of have to judge whether a plant is wet enough to make it through the day. If it's only slightly moist, I still may give it a shot of water.

Glen

I have a small 4-shelf greenhouse that I can put things into and roll into the garage at nights. Come to think of it.... that's what I should start doing today since the forecast for this week looks good! I haven't really put stuff out yet (well, except for Friday night to make room for extra company in the living room ... but then I forgot about them being outside.... oops... they were "OK" BUT not overly happy)

~Ang~