I'll start with my experience.
Just got the seeds from harimnair2001( awesome guy super friendly) and many arrived already germinated.
I decided to try sowing some directly in ground, since I don't know the real cold hardiness of these I put them in the most sheltered locations I had.
For one I did create a wooden cage to protect from:
-my ferocious chihuahua
-wind
-cold
-strong sun.
It is surrounded by two walls delimiting the garden, that should further raise temps. The whole setup should make it easy to protect in the winter while still young.
The soil below have been replaced with some kind of gritty mix with 50% pine bark, 20% perlite, 10% pomice and vulcan rocks and the rest is regular soil. After around 50-60 cm there is the regular soil.