Advantages & Disadvantages of Growing Broccoli

You think about growing broccoli on your balcony or in your garden but are not sure whether this would be worth it for you or not?

Great! Stick with me since I will show you all the pros and cons of growing broccoli in the following chapters.

Advantages of Growing Broccoli

1. Broccoli can be planted in cool climatic zones
2. Broccoli is pretty resistant to pests
3. You don’t necessarily have to prune broccoli
4. Broccoli is rather tolerant to soil conditions
5. Broccoli plants allow some mistakes
6. Growing broccoli is quite interesting
7. You don’t have to pollinate broccoli by hand
8. Broccoli doesn’t require lots of sun
9. Broccoli can be an interesting plant to grow with kids
10. Broccoli is healthy

Broccoli can be planted in cool climatic zones

One advantage of growing broccoli is that it is a cool-weather crop and you can therefore grow broccoli in a decent manner even if you don’t live in a warm climatic zones while you would have a much harder time growing peppers or other plants that need the heat to grow well.

Thus, growing broccoli can make quite a lot of sense if you don’t have the opportunity to grow plants that would need warmer climatic conditions.

Broccoli is pretty resistant to pests

Compared to other vegetables, broccoli plants are also pretty resistant to pests and plant diseases and you will therefore be able to grow broccoli without having to worry a lot in this regard.

You don’t necessarily have to prune broccoli

Another upside to growing broccoli is that you also don’t necessarily have to prune broccoli plants.

Instead, you can just let them grow and let nature do its work while you will still be able to get decent yields.

Broccoli is rather tolerant to soil conditions

While there are many plants that are pretty picky when it comes to soil conditions, broccoli is rather tolerant in this regard and even if you don’t provide excellent soil conditions, broccoli plants will usually still grow in a decent manner.

Broccoli plants allow some mistakes

Broccoli plants are also pretty resistant and allow some mistakes.

Hence, even if you don’t provide optimal growing conditions, you may still be able to grow broccoli in a decent manner and can get acceptable yields.

Growing broccoli is quite interesting

You should also know that growing broccoli at home can be quite interesting since broccoli plants change their looks quite often and it can also be quite interesting to watch big crops forming in the middle of broccoli plants.

You don’t have to pollinate broccoli by hand

Another benefit of growing broccoli is that you don’t have to pollinate broccoli plants by hand.

Instead, as long as you grow broccoli outdoors, you can just let pollinators like insects do the work for you.

Broccoli doesn’t require lots of sun

Broccoli also grows well with a mix of sun and shade and you therefore don’t have to provide lots of sun to your property plants but they will also grow in shady environments in a decent manner.

Broccoli can be an interesting plant to grow with kids

By growing broccoli, you can also show your kids how our food is produced and how much work you have to put in before you are finally able to harvest the fruits of your labor and this can be great since your kids will appreciate food much more and will also be more eager to eat broccoli in general.

Broccoli is healthy

Broccoli is also a pretty healthy vegetable and can be used for a variety of different dishes.

Thus, growing broccoli at home can also make sense if you want to increase your chance of staying healthy and fit in the long run.

Now that you know all the benefits of growing broccoli at home, we also have to talk about all the downsides that come along with it so that you can better decide whether you still want to grow broccoli at home or rather want to grow different veggies instead.

Disadvantages of Growing Broccoli

1. It takes long to grow broccoli from seed to harvest
2. Broccoli is not as beginner-friendly as other plants
3. Broccoli needs lots of space
4. Broccoli is hard to grow on the balcony
5. Limited broccoli varieties to choose from
6. Broccoli is hard to grow in tropical climatic zones
7. Broccoli is not a perennial plant
8. Limited number of broccoli crops to harvest
9. Broccoli is hard to store
10. You may not like broccoli

It takes long to grow broccoli from seed to harvest

One downside to growing broccoli at home is that it takes quite a long time to grow broccoli from seed to harvest.

In fact, it usually takes around 4 months to do so and if you are an impatient person, you may rather want to grow radish or other veggies that grow much faster.

Broccoli is not as beginner-friendly as other plants

While broccoli plants forgive minor mistakes, they are still not as easy to grow as spinach or many other plants and broccoli is therefore not the best plant to grow for beginners.

Broccoli needs lots of space

Another problem with growing broccoli at home is that broccoli plants can get quite bushy and you may need lots of space to grow them in a decent manner and if you don’t have enough space, broccoli plants may also take away sunlight from other plants you might grow next to them.

Broccoli is hard to grow on the balcony

Since broccoli plants need lots of space, they are also not good plants to grow on the balcony and you may rather grow broccoli if you have a big garden where you will not be space-constraint.

Limited broccoli varieties to choose from

While there are hundreds or even thousands of tomato varieties to grow, the number of broccoli varieties is rather limited and you may therefore run out of ideas regarding what broccoli plants you may want to grow in the long run.

Broccoli is hard to grow in tropical climatic zones

Since broccoli is a cool-weather crop, it is also not a great idea to grow broccoli in hot or tropical climatic zones and if you live in one of those regions, you would just be far better off growing chilies or other veggies that like hot weather.

Broccoli is not a perennial plant

Another disadvantage of growing broccoli is that broccoli is not a perennial plant and you can only harvest it for one season and will not be able to harvest the fruits of your labor for many years to come as you would be by growing rhubarb or other perennial plants.

Limited number of broccoli crops to harvest

Broccoli also only produces one main crop per plant and you will therefore not be able to harvest as many crops as you might be used to from growing tomatoes or many other plants.

Broccoli is hard to store

While you can store onions or potatoes for months, this is not true for broccoli and you would have to use your broccoli crops soon after harvesting them since they would get bad otherwise.

You may not like broccoli

While some people love broccoli, many others don’t like the taste at all and if you belong to the second group of people, you will just be far better off growing other veggies you like more.

Top 10 Growing Broccoli Pros & Cons – Summary List

Growing Broccoli Pros	Growing Broccoli Cons
Broccoli is pretty resistant to pests	Growing broccoli is not easy
Broccoli allows minor mistakes	Broccoli is not a good beginner plant
Broccoli doesn’t need full sun	Only very few crops to harvest from broccoli plants
Broccoli grows well in cool climatic zones	Hard to grow broccoli in hot climatic zones
Growing broccoli can be fun	Limited number of broccoli varieties
Interesting to grow broccoli with kids	Broccoli is not a perennial plant
You don’t have to prune broccoli plants	Hard to store broccoli
You don’t have to stabilize broccoli plants	Broccoli needs lots of space
Pollination by hand is not necessary	Not good to grow on the balcony
Broccoli is not as demanding as other plants	It takes quite long to grow broccoli

Should You Grow Broccoli At Home?

While broccoli can be a great plant to grow at home since it is pretty resistant to pests and also grows in cooler climatic zones, you should also know that it takes quite a long time to grow broccoli from seed to harvest and growing broccoli is not as easy as growing other plants.

If you want to learn more about growing broccoli at home, you should also have a look at my broccoli grower’s guide and my growing broccoli FAQ section.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broccoli

Own experience.

About the Author

My name is Andreas and I’m really passionate about our environment and also about growing plants. In fact, I have grown several different plants over many years. I love to see my own plants grow and also always try new things to improve my overall conditions at home.

In my blog posts, I want to share my experiences with you so that you can become successful in growing various different plants and improving your home as well, even though you might still be a beginner right now.