New Mexico · zones 6a–8a
When to plant broccoli in New Mexico.
Sow or transplant between Feb 27 to Mar 27 in a typical year, keyed to New Mexico's median last frost around Apr 20. A second, fall sowing fits Jul 11 to Aug 20. Dates below are state medians; your ZIP code shifts them by days to weeks.
The 2026 windows
Broccoli dates for a typical New Mexico season.
1 · Start indoors
Jan 16 to Feb 13
About 6 weeks before set-out. Warm spot, real light.
2 · Set out
Feb 27 to Mar 27
Keyed to the ~Apr 20 last frost. Sow 0.5" deep, 18" apart.
Fall round
Jul 11 to Aug 20
Counted back from the ~Oct 25 first frost.
Harvest
~60 days later
~1.2 lb per plant over ~3 weeks.
New Mexico spans more than one climate: Zone 7 is the most common zone, but the state runs 6a to 8a. That's why the planner works from your ZIP code's frost dates, not your zone: mountain and coastal gardens in the same state can be three weeks apart.
New Mexico growing notes
Broccoli is the one crop in this bed where heat can ruin the harvest without a single leaf ever showing damage.
Two single plantings, and elevation tilts which one wins
A broccoli transplant wants a full 18 inches of row to grow into, and needs roughly 60 days from the day it goes into the ground to a head worth cutting. It shares the same planting pattern as the other transplanted brassicas: one planting per window rather than a running succession, a spring transplanting and a separate fall one.
Elevation decides which of those two plantings finishes clean. Broccoli forms its head in cool weather, and a head exposed to a real heat spell as it sizes up tends to come in small, loose, and quick to flower rather than tight. In the low desert toward 7b and 8a, spring heat arrives early enough that a spring-set head is racing the calendar, so gardeners there lean on the fall planting instead, timed to head up as the weather cools rather than fight it. Higher up near 6a, summer stays mild enough that a spring planting has a fairer shot, while a fall planting has to be started early enough to size up before a hard freeze cuts it short.
A yield built on one head, plus what comes after
A single broccoli plant given its full 18 inches returns around 1.2 pounds, most of it from the one central head. A plant left in the ground after that first cut often keeps producing smaller side shoots for weeks afterward, worth checking before pulling the plant.
A head that's ready doesn't hold at its best for long: once the individual beads across its surface are still tight, green, and packed close together, cut it rather than waiting for it to grow larger still. A head left even a few extra warm days can loosen, and small yellow petals appearing between the beads mean it's already begun flowering and past its best, whatever it still looks like from a distance.
The head is the target, and three other angles of attack
Cabbage worms and loopers are a bigger risk on broccoli than on a leafy cole crop, since a caterpillar working down into the cluster of beads is far harder to spot and rinse out than one on a flat, open leaf, so checking the head itself, not just the wrapper leaves around it, matters once heads start to form. Flea beetles riddle young transplants with small holes before the plant has enough leaf to spare the damage, and a transplant that goes into the ground already stressed from that feeding is slower to size up a head later, so the early weeks deserve a closer look.
Aphids crowd into the tight space where the forming head meets the stem, easy to miss until you're trimming the head in the kitchen and find them working out from between the florets; a short soak in cool salted water floats them out better than a rinse under the tap does. Black rot shows up first as a yellowing wedge biting in from the leaf margin toward the main vein, and once that wedge browns and the vein inside it goes dark, that leaf is finished. It spreads through splashing water and pruning tools more than through the air, so working a bed once leaves have dried, not right after a monsoon downpour, limits how far a gardener carries it. Cabbage root maggot targets the stem at the soil line on a young transplant; a plant that wilts in full sun despite damp soil, with little to explain it above ground, is usually hiding the damage below. Pulling it to check the base for tunneling and small white larvae confirms it before wasting more water nursing a plant that's already lost its roots.
In New Mexico: watch for
The pests that find broccoli here.
A middle-length season, about 188 frost-free days, means broccoli overlaps cabbage worms & loopers for a stretch each summer. Check plants every week or two and treat early.
Green caterpillars chewing ragged holes; green droppings.
Organic fix: Handpick, cover with netting, spray Bt.
Gray-green clusters tucked into the leaf folds.
Organic fix: Blast with water, then insecticidal soap.
Tiny holes peppering the young leaves.
Organic fix: Row cover from day one; diatomaceous earth.
Black rot
Yellow V-shaped wedges cutting in from the leaf edge, veins blackening inside.
Organic fix: Pull infected plants, water at the base, keep brassicas out of that bed 3 years.
Seedlings wilt, yellow and stall for no reason; white maggots tunnel the roots.
Organic fix: Row cover before the flies are up, when yellow rocket blooms; rotate the bed.
Your season math: New Mexico gives broccoli about 188 frost-free days, and it needs roughly 60 days to a first harvest. It's a one-planting crop, so time that single sowing well.
Planting broccoli in New Mexico: questions
When should I plant broccoli in New Mexico?+
In a typical New Mexico year, sow broccoli or set out transplants between Feb 27 to Mar 27, keyed to the state's median last frost around Apr 20. There's also a fall window: Jul 11 to Aug 20. Your exact dates shift with your ZIP code and microclimate.
When do I start broccoli seeds indoors in New Mexico?+
Start seeds inside about 6 weeks before set-out: roughly Jan 16 to Feb 13 for a typical New Mexico season.
What USDA zone is New Mexico?+
New Mexico spans zones 6a–8a, mostly zone 7. But frost dates, not zones, set planting time. The free planner uses your ZIP code's actual frost dates.
How many broccoli plants do I need?+
Depends who you're feeding. The crop page has exact counts per household size, or the free planner does the math for your family in about 60 seconds.