When to Plant Broccoli in Gaithersburg, MD

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

You can determine when it's possible to plant broccoli in Gaithersburg by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Broccoli

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

You can plant broccoli a little earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

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 Gaithersburg 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. Any later than that and your broccoli may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your broccoli indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Gaithersburg. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Gaithersburg and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Gaithersburg there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your broccoli in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gaithersburg

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Gaithersburg

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