When to plant Broccoli
Computed from land-grant Extension planting-window rules (cited below), localized to real ZIP-level median frost dates, not a single national guess. These are national-generic rules by hardiness class; individual state Extension offices layer their own regional adjustment on top (earlier in the Deep South, later in the Upper Midwest). Enter your ZIP for your own dates, or read the four representative locations below.
Planting windows and crop timing here are computed from USDA/NOAA climate data and the university extension sources cited below, not a site visit or soil test. Treat this as a starting point: local conditions vary, and a local nursery or extension office can advise on your exact site. See our full Disclaimer.
Representative timing, by climate band
When to plant Broccoli in four US climates
Each column is the most nursery-dense location in our directory within that USDA zone band, computed from that location's own real median frost dates, not a made-up example.
| Stage |
Zones 1-5 (cold winters)
Fort Plain, NY |
Zones 6-7 (temperate)
McMinnville, TN |
Zones 8-9 (warm)
Apopka, FL |
Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent)
Loxahatchee, FL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start seed indoors | Mar 18–Apr 1 | Feb 17–Mar 3 | Jan 6–Jan 20 | – |
| Direct-sow outside | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Transplant outside | Apr 8–Apr 22 | Mar 10–Mar 24 | Jan 27–Feb 10 | – |
| Fall planting | Aug 11–Sep 8 | Sep 4–Oct 2 | Nov 3–Dec 1 | – |
| Expected harvest | Jun 12–Jul 11 | May 14–Jun 12 | Apr 2–May 1 | – |
Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent) (Loxahatchee, FL): Frost is rare here (about 359 frost-free days a year); most years see little or no hard freeze. This is a hardy crop. In climates like this one, hardy and semi-hardy crops typically go in during the cooler months (fall through late winter), not on a frost-relative schedule.
Broccoli goes outside two to four weeks before your last frost. Colorado State University Extension's hardy-crop rule (Fact Sheet 7.212) states that window directly; Purdue Extension's Indiana Vegetable Planting Calendar (HO-186-W) puts the same hardy tier four to six weeks before frost instead, a full two-week gap between the two anchor sources rather than a difference in wording alone. This page keeps Colorado State's window and states Purdue's wider one alongside it rather than averaging the two into a figure neither prints.
Start seed indoors five to seven weeks before your last frost, Colorado State's own per-crop figure. Soil should read 40°F at transplant time; that number comes from Colorado State alone, since Purdue's soil-temperature table has no broccoli row to check it against. Count 65 to 80 days to harvest, combining Colorado State's 65 with NC State's and Missouri Extension's 70 to 80.
Broccoli also takes a fall crop, four to eight weeks before your first fall frost, from Purdue's explicit fall-planting list. Because broccoli is hardy, a cold-winter climate can put it in the ground while real frost risk remains; a mild-winter climate shifts both the spring and fall windows without changing the two-to-six-week rule itself.
Nurseries sell broccoli as transplants in six-packs timed to the windows above, and as seed for growing your own starts five to seven weeks ahead of either planting date.
Frost hardiness
Hardy. Tolerates hard frost. Can go in the ground before the last frost date.
Minimum soil temperature
40°F
For direct sowing/germination, where an Extension source stated it.
Days to maturity
65–80
Sourcing notes
From transplant. CSU's hardy rule (2-4wk before frost) used for the outdoor transplant window; PURDUE's hardy rule is 4-6wk before - flagged as the same systematic ~2wk gap seen elsewhere between the two anchors. Sow-indoors figure (5-7wk) is CSU's own per-crop number for growing the transplant. DTM: CSU 65, NCSU/MOEXT both 70-80 - combined range. CSU soil temp 40F (PURDUE's Table 3 has no broccoli row). Fall figure per PURDUE's explicit list.
Related crops
Growing zones for this crop
Nurseries near these locations
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Sources
- Colorado State University Extension, Vegetable Planting Guide (Fact Sheet 7.212) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- University of Missouri Extension, Vegetable Planting Calendar (G6201) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- NC State Extension, Central North Carolina Planting Calendar for Annual Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs (AG-756-01) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- Purdue Extension (Dept. of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture), Indiana Vegetable Planting Calendar (HO-186-W) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, Virginia's Home Garden Vegetable Planting Guide (Pub. 426-331) (accessed 2026-08-04)