Having trouble hardening seedlings

I've tried bringing a couple of them outside. But it's so windy the stems either break or plant wilts over. (the one, i managed to save, (broccoli) is doing much better since I leave it inside. That must mean it's not ready, right? How do I know when the time is right for each seedling. Do I wait for true leaves? Can I cover them outside? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Michelle

I've never tried to adjust things to outdoor life before they had their first set of true leaves so I'm not sure if that's part of the problem or not. How long are you leaving them outside for? You need to start with fairly short periods of time and then work them up gradually to being outdoors all the time. You will also probably have better luck if you protect them a bit from wind, besides blowing them over it can dry out the leaves and that might be too much stress for baby seedlings.

I put my in the shade, a little bit to the east. The seedlings typically get an hour of morning sun and then shade the rest of the day. At this time of year, it is more like filtered shade.

I put them in the seed trays, so if a warm day is coming (like today, in my neck of the woods, where it went into the mid-80's), I put about an inch of water in the tray, which lets the seedling suck up the water.

I will leave them all out there for 4 to 7 days and then plant them.
The main way to deal with wind is to get a cold box or to built a make-shift one out of bricks and polyethylene. I must say that I do not recall having a major storm during this week of hardening, so I do not have a good answer for the wind (outside of the cold box or taking them back inside until after the storm.)

I have some really shady places too, so I put mine there for a few days, then set them where I was going to plant them so they could get used to the change. So far they have done really good, but you know, could lose them all tomorrow.