It's not mid-may (last frost) yet; can I plant on my (stone/rock/clay) terrace ?

Hello,

I have a few plants (Ashwagandhas plants, Withania Somnifera) that have been outside for the past few days. Temperature have been getting hot enough for them to sit outside at night without problems. If a frost is announced, I get them back inside.

Now, I have obtained a few square gardens, that I laid directly on my rocky (the material is probably some kind of clay, brick) terrace. They are about 3 ft by 3ft, 1.5ft high (filled with about 1ft of sticks and earth).  They get mostly all the sun, from early morning to late afternoon.

I'm wondering if I can already put into those beds some of my plants that are not frost tolerant. The idea is, big frost are going to be less and less common as the season progress, and the terrace should act as some kind of heat "storage". Already last year, I had nasturtiums in the garden that were killed by the frost, but those laying on the terrace didn't mind much.

I know Sepp Holzer is using a similar technique with big rocks, and with his ponds, who store enough heat to grow unusual vegetables for his altitude.

Is planting now in those beds a good idea ? Could I even push that further next year, and plant even earlier, like mid april, early april, march ? I'm realizing that the growing season is quite short, and that if "some dude" in his mountain can grow citrus, I should be able to grow frost sensitive crops at my altitude without much issues, especially using some of his methods.

I think you're doing the right thing by hardening off your tender young plants outside.

I find little microclimates like the ones you have make a big difference, but a heavy frost will still nip the plants.

The nice thing about vertical structures like rocks is that it's easy to plop down a frost cloth over your plants.

Seeing as there was no reply, I went ahead and planted them in that square garden bed. If there is even another big frost coming, it won't be too hard to put something over to protect them, although I'd be tempted to let them deal with the temperature on their own, to see if my theory is correct.

Hardening them outside before planting seemed to be the best thing to do, last year I discovered thanks to this forum and my own inexperience that plants can actually get sun burns too. Putting the pots outside, and planting a while after should stress them less as they'd be able to adapt to those two stressors (climate, and transplant) separately. However if I forget to water them, or put them in a too sunny spot, I end up with veggies that are cooked before harvest.

As most other threads, I think I'll post some feedback here.

I plan to plant some plants that are not frost tolerant before the actual "end of frost" date; if there is no frost, they will have won at least two weeks... but that's for another thread.