When to Plant Broccoli in Homewood, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when you can plant broccoli is to refer to the USDA zone info for Homewood.


Planting Calendar for Broccoli

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

Since broccoli are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant broccoli
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant broccoli
Probably not a good time to plant broccoli

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

The last month that you can plant broccoli and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your broccoli may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your broccoli indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Homewood the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Homewood and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Homewood you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your broccoli if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Homewood

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Homewood

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