This bit confuses me,so i ask you for further explanation of this shade thing as I know not much about this part (hardening) that is
hardening off is a process of acclimatization to the harsher conditions outside. people who work indoors would drop from heat stroke in the job i did for years (seen it happen). the new kids had light duties until they were ready to do the heavy work in the fields. just like after a long winter in school kids who dash ou on summer vacation almost invariably get nasty sunburns. plants are the same way. they have to be toughened up before facing the elements outside where water is harder to get, nutrients are less abundant, and light can be far stronger then they are used to.
before a plant nursery sells a garden plant, those plants generally have 2 weeks of increasing exposure to the outside elements, and less care. this is done just to make them survive outside. we care for our seedlings like they are precious special snowflakes, but outside they are just ordinary plants facing the pests heat droughts and wind. your plants are too small and delicate for hardening off. if you plant them outside like that they will simply not survive. this is not negativity this is biology. once those plants hit the woods they will be on the menu of numerous hungry insects, birds, rodents, and other herbivores. they will have limited access to water, and heavy soils which may in fact be unsuited to plant life.
unless the area you are preparing was home to large numbers of grasses or other small plants your dope will most likely not grow there. if the area is a clearing with limited plant growth (the easy option for planting outdoors, and the most common choice for noobs) then WHY were no plants living there already? the answer is most likely soil toxins deposited by the trees and bushes nearby to reduce competition for food and water from undergrowth. Many plants (cedars, oaks, junipers, heathers, broomes, etc...) produce these toxins specifically to combat upstart foliage taking their water and nutrients. unless you drop a shitload of sweat and materials into your clearing, the soil will most likely not grow shit, no matter how much light and water you give it. in even the best prepared clearing with rich soil and ample water your dope will be way behind on the growth scale. all the other plants around will be tough, woody, fibrous and well established while your tiny little pot plants will be tasty young greens for earwigs, slugs snails rodents beetles birds, etc etc etc... even the best garden plot right by your back door would be insufficient to grow those plants as small as they are. there are too many hungry critters and not enough tasty tiny plants for your little dope plants to survive.