One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant broccoli is to check out the USDA zone info for Monterey.

Planting Calendar for Broccoli

Frost tolerance for broccoli:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Broccoli tend to make it in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant broccoli in Monterey is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant broccoli and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your broccoli may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your broccoli indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in Monterey. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Monterey and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Monterey there is a last frost after January 31 so always be ready to protect your broccoli if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Monterey

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Monterey

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Monterey.