The garden is tilled.  I have two small-ish gardens.  They are about 180 sq. ft each.  Added to each garden were 8 bags of compost, 2 bags of Nutri-Mulch, leaves from last year, and composted kitchen scraps of my own making.  I also had a cubic yard of mulch/garden soil delivered that I use to make my flower beds look nice.  Whatever is not used for that, gets thrown into the garden.  

Hardening Off:  
All last week, my plants were trotted out to the deck, and left in a mostly shady spot, where parts were dappled with sunlight.  Then hauled back in  for the night.  The night temps were still quite low.  

Yesterday, my seedlings received 3 hours of direct sunlight. It was a little hard on them.  I watered them before they went into the direct sunlight, and I watered them again when I moved them to the shade.  I kept an eye on them, looking for obvious signs of distress. Healthy plants are much more forgiving than scrawny and weak ones.  

Today, they will get 4-6 hours, depending on temperature.   I'd love to get them planted on Saturday, but that might be pushing it.  I'll just keep an eye on them and see how they react to more sunlight.  Monday is probably the day for garden planting, if the weather stays nice.   

In yester-years, I've planted them sooner without spending a lot of time acclimating them to the sun.  This just causes unnecessary struggle once they go in and then they require a much longer recovery time.  I would also lose a few in that process.  However, when I properly acclimate them, the recovery time is substantially lower and they take advantage of their new found freedom and get down to business.

You can google how to properly acclimate your plants.  Everyone has their own way of doing this.  You just need to find out what works best for you and your schedule.  My husband works from home, so he is usually the one with the timer and he hauls them in and out of the house, and in and out of the sun. 

My only advice is to keep them watered, look for signs of distress, and DO NOT NEGLECT them.  They are like babies.  They need attention and care, but it is only for a little while.  Then these little darlings will start 'doing their thing' without any hovering.