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

One way of determining when it's the best time to plant broccoli is to look at the USDA zone info for Sparta.

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 just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant broccoli in Sparta 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your broccoli may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your broccoli indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Sparta is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Sparta you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your broccoli in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sparta

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 Sparta

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