One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Belle Fourche you can estimate when to plant broccoli by looking at 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.

Since broccoli are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The last month that you can plant broccoli and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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 little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Belle Fourche. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Belle Fourche may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Belle Fourche there is a last frost after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your broccoli in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Belle Fourche

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Belle Fourche

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Belle Fourche.