I recently shipped a young friend a box of cuttings, plants, etc from our farm to get her started at her new home. She asked me if she could put the plants on her porch to protect them from the deer. This was my reply. I am sharing it here in case it helps another new gardener. Take what you can use and leave the rest. My love to all!
I don't know the light conditions of your porch, so I'll tell you what I do. I start my cuttings off in pots in the house. They stay inside in bright but indirect sunlight until I have good root growth.
Then I harden them off right against the north side of our house. I try to do it on an overcast day if possible. I use a 20-minute timer on my phone to remind me to check on them. If they look good, I reset it for another 20 minutes. I move them back inside as soon as they look like they are starting to droop or wilt. Once I get them to 5-6 hours, they are hardened off and can stay outside. If I have a lot of plants (like the 250 tomato plants I am selling this year), I will leave 2-3 out instead of all of them. That way I don't lose too much if things go wrong.
Once they are hardened off, I leave them on the north side of my house for about a year, sometimes two. They get some direct light (about 2-3 hours) but it is mostly bright indirect light there. The cooler side of the house helps protect them from too much heat/drying out while they are getting established. As they grow, I plant them in 5-gallon buckets with drain holes.
The buckets can be placed in kiddie pools with an inch or two of water (enough to be taken up into the bucket as needed but not so much the plant's roots stay soaked.). I learned this practice from a master gardener.
If it rains, I have to drain some of the water out of the kiddie pool, but I use my heel and crush the side of it down to let water out. If you know you won't use the kiddie pool for anything else, you can drill a hole in the side of the pool at the height you want the water. My pools get recycled to my waterfowl or dogs, so I don't put holes in mine if I can help it.
