I start with the plant being like a foot tall before it gets planted out. I then amend the ground soil with at least 10 or 20 litres of potting soil, which works great. I then cage the plants to help with support from the outdoor elements, and I finally put a layer of copper tape around the plant base to stop slug damage. I then water and feed with bottled nutrients. Here's a picture of some autos I've potted from the little pots right into the ground.
Those look super happy, you find that the foot tall seems to be where they are strong enough to survive the storms and weather?
They do that naturally, as my spot has not much sun, so they grow kind of leggy, but it works well for small plants, helps from wind and such, as normal photoperiods are a pain for falling over in the fall.
