One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant broccoli in Raleigh should be figured out by checking out 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 bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant broccoli in Raleigh 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. 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 Raleigh the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Raleigh is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Raleigh last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your broccoli if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Raleigh

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Raleigh

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