put chicken wire around your plants to keep the pigs out
and for the question about budding let nature do the work growing outdoors inst on your schedule let nature take your plants.

as for the plant distance I'm not sure I always space them way out from each other cause of helicopters and to decrease the chance of seeds just in case you cant be there to pick out the males.

germinate them in a wet paper towel in a bag just throw it in a drawer for a few days till it cracks and begins to root your then take them outside