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.

In Ridgewood you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant broccoli by reviewing 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.

Broccoli do ok in some cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant broccoli in Ridgewood 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your broccoli indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Ridgewood the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ridgewood and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Ridgewood last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your broccoli if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ridgewood

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 Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°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 Ridgewood

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