Broccoli is a cool-weather thriving vegetable that is part of the cole crop family, which includes other home garden staples like cauliflower, kale, and kohlrabi, amongst others. Year and year, studies find that broccoli is one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat, and even has preventative effects against cancer! Broccoli is a great vegetable for home gardens because of its versatility as table fare, as well as its twice-yearly crop production.

Are you going to plant broccoli in your garden? According to our research, we don’t recommend planting asparagus, climbing beans, mustard, peppers, pumpkin, sweet corn, cantaloupe, strawberry, and watermelon near broccoli in the garden.

Broccoli is a water-hungry member of the home garden, requiring 1-2 inches of water per week to grow quickly and produce a dense green head. Most broccoli is planted in rows, with plants 18-20 inches apart. Use organic mulch around the broccoli to ensure that the soil remains cool and retains moisture. Broccoli is very temperature sensitive, with dips below 40 and over 80 causing early blooming and smaller yields at harvest time.

Home garden-grown broccoli rarely gets to the size of grocery-bought broccoli, so it’s important to begin monitoring the plant as soon as the head begins to form to ensure that the head doesn’t overdevelop and become inedible. Harvest the broccoli when the buds on the head are densely packed against each other by cutting the main head about 2-4 inches about the soil line. A freshly harvested head of broccoli should remain fresh in a refrigerator for about a week.