Growing Broccoli in Pennsylvania

Broccoli is one of the most rewarding cool-season crops in Pennsylvania, and one of the most frequently mistimed. Get the planting date wrong by two weeks in either direction and you’ll either have plants bolting in spring heat or sitting idle through late-summer warmth. Get it right, and broccoli produces two crops a year across most of PA — spring and fall — with very little work in between.

Pennsylvania’s zones 5a through 7a all support broccoli growing well, though the approach differs. Zone 7a gardeners near Philadelphia are already transplanting spring starts when mountain-zone gardeners are still starting seeds indoors. This cluster covers the full timing breakdown, the best varieties for PA conditions, and everything you need to grow from seed to harvest.