Broccoli
Vegetable · cool season
When to plant
- Start seeds indoors about 6 weeks before planting out.
- Plant outdoors about 3 weeks before your average last spring frost.
- It can also be grown as a fall crop, timed back from your first fall frost.
- Ready to harvest about 60 days after planting out.
Cut the main head; side shoots follow.
Frost dates depend on where you live. Enter your ZIP code to get exact dates.
Dates by zone: 3a 3b 4a 4b 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 8a 8b 9a 9b 10a 10b
Growing basics
- Sun
- Part sun (4–6 hours)
- Spacing
- 18 in
- Soil temperature
- At least 45°F
- Time to harvest
- About 60 days
- Containers
- At least 5 gallons
- Plant family
- Cabbage family (brassicas)
- Harvest per plant
- About 1 lb
- Seeds keep
- About 4 years
Companions
Good neighbors: Dill, Onion (sets), Chamomile, Nasturtium, Thyme
Keep apart: the tomato family (nightshades). Cabbage-family crops and tomatoes compete and can stunt each other.
Keep apart: Horseradish. Horseradish spreads aggressively. Give it its own spot.
Keep apart: Strawberry (June-bearing), Strawberry (everbearing). Cabbage-family crops can stunt strawberries.
Keep apart: Mint. Mint spreads aggressively into neighbors. Keep it in a pot.
Keep apart: Fennel (bulb). Fennel slows the growth of most garden plants. Grow it on its own.
Keep apart: Sunchoke (Jerusalem artichoke). Sunchokes spread aggressively and shade neighbors.
Varieties to try
- Di Cicco 50 days: many side shoots
- Green Magic 60 days: heat-tolerant hybrid
- Calabrese 70 days: heirloom
- Waltham 29 75 days: for fall harvest
Pests and problems
Grow it well
Tips
- Feed hungry crops halfway through the season. Corn, tomatoes, squash, and cabbage use up nitrogen fast. When tomatoes set their first fruit, or corn is knee-high, scratch a little compost or balanced fertilizer into the soil beside the plants and water it in.
- Cover crops before the bugs find them. Put row cover or insect netting over cabbage, kale, and other greens the day you plant. It keeps out cabbage moths and flea beetles with no spraying at all.
- Move crop families every year. Pests and diseases build up in the soil. Don't plant tomatoes where tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, or eggplant grew last year: they're one family and share the same problems.
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