Time late spring or summer planting so that plants mature in cool autumn temperatures. Time your spring planting so that broccoli will come to harvest before uniformly hot weather arrives. Mature plants can withstand cold temperatures down to 25☏ (-4°).īroccoli can be temperamental if you plant too early plants may produce only small heads-called “buttons.” And if you plant too late-and plants mature in very warm or hot weather-heads may not form at all and plants may simply flower and go to seed. It thrives in temperatures between 60° and 70☏ (15-21☌).

Transplanting broccoli seedlings into the garden.īroccoli is a cool-season crop. Continue to apply these lightly around the plants at 3-week intervals. Side-dress broccoli with aged compost and a slow-release organic fertilizer at planting time will meet broccoli’s initial nutrient needs. Adding aged compost to the planting bed and turning it under is a good way to prepare a planting bed for broccoli. It grows best at 60☏ to 65☏ (16°-18☌).īroccoli is adapted to widely different soils as long as they are fertile, with good texture, and moist. Broccoli can withstand frost down to about 25☏ (-4☌). Broccoli seedlings can be set in the garden up to a month before your last expected frost. In spring, give broccoli an early start so that greenheads can form before the hot weather arrives. Seeds are sown indoors or in a cold frame 5 to 6 weeks before they are set in the garden. Broccoli seedlings are usually transplanted into the garden after being started indoors. Broccoli is a cool-season annual commonly treated as a two-season crop with spring and late summer planting.

Repotting broccoli seedlings