One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when to plant broccoli is to use the USDA zone info for Riverdale.

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 tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant broccoli in Riverdale 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. If you wait any later than that and your broccoli may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your broccoli indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Riverdale. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Riverdale may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Riverdale you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your broccoli if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Riverdale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Riverdale

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