Broccoli Seeds

Broccoli Seeds for Planting: Classic Heads, Sprouting Types, and Leafy Shoots

Broccoli is a cool-season classic, and homegrown heads taste noticeably sweeter than anything from the store. Our collection of broccoli seeds covers traditional Calabrese heads, hybrids bred for uniform crowns, sprouting types that keep producing for weeks, Romanesco with its spiraling chartreuse heads, and leafy cousins like broccoli rabe and Kailaan. Filter by days to maturity and cold tolerance to match a spring or fall planting, and by container-friendly if you're short on bed space.

Broccoli Seed Varieties: Calabrese, De Cicco, Romanesco, and More

Calabrese is the standard garden broccoli, with a solid main head followed by plenty of side shoots, and Waltham 29 is a long-time favorite for cool fall weather. De Cicco is an heirloom that makes a modest head and a long run of side shoots, which suits gardeners who like to pick a little at a time. Belstar F1 and Covina F1 are hybrids bred for dependable, even heads. Purple Sprouting produces tender violet shoots that turn green when cooked, and Romanesco offers spiral, lime-green heads that are as striking as they are mild. If you like a little bitterness, Broccoli Rabe, Spring Rapini, and Sorrento Broccoli Raab grow faster than full-sized heads, while Kailaan Sprouting Broccoli gives you thick, tender stems and small florets for stir-fries.

Growing Broccoli from Seed: Time It for Cool Weather

With broccoli, timing is nearly everything. For a spring crop, start broccoli from seed indoors about six to eight weeks before your last frost and transplant two to three weeks before that date. For a fall crop, sow ten to twelve weeks before your first fall frost, which usually means midsummer. Seeds sprout in about a week to ten days, and young plants shrug off light frost, but sustained heat is the real enemy, so count backward from the warm weather you want heads to beat. The Seedtime garden planning software builds a planting calendar around your frost dates for both seasons, and the garden journal is a handy place to note which varieties handled your first warm spell best.

Buy Broccoli Seeds Online with One Shipping Charge

When you buy broccoli seeds online here, you can add seeds from multiple suppliers to the same order and pay one flat shipping charge, or qualify for free standard shipping on Seedtime-fulfilled orders of $49 or more to the lower 48 states. Paid Seedtime members get 20% off seed packets marked "Fulfilled by Seedtime" and 5% off everything else in the store. You can start planning for free, and if you want unlimited calendars and layouts along with those store discounts, compare Seedtime's plans to find the right fit. Whether you want a single broccoli seed packet or a lineup of broccoli seeds for planting across spring and fall, it all ships together.