Planting, Growing, And Harvesting Broccoli

Broccoli: the crown jewel of the garden—and your dinner plate! This cool-season crop is crisp, tender, and loaded with nutrition. Whether you’re planting in spring or planning for a fall feast, follow our guide to grow your own bountiful broccoli harvest.

About Broccoli

Broccoli is part of the Brassicaceae family, along with cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and radishes. The common type of broccoli in grocery stores is “Calabrese broccoli” (named after Calabria in Italy), which produces big green heads on thick stalks.

Broccoli is a cool-season crop, so it should be started in early- to mid-spring (depending on your climate) for an early summer crop or in mid- to late summer for a fall crop. High temperatures will affect the development of the broccoli head (the harvestable part), so the goal is to get broccoli to mature before or after high temperatures are expected.

Broccoli takes a long time to mature, so be patient! Once you harvest the main head of a broccoli plant, it will often keep producing smaller side shoots that can be enjoyed for months.

This cole crop is worth growing for its nutritional content alone. It’s rich in vitamins and minerals and a good source of potassium, iron, calcium, fiber, vitamin C, and beta-carotenes.

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