GardenBroccoli variety
Sidekick Broccoli
✓ In your garden
Sidekick is a sprouting broccoli, ready in about 41 days. Instead of one big head it makes a steady run of slender, tender spears — cut them young and it keeps sending more for weeks. Grow it in the cool of spring or fall.
“A cool-season broccoli grown for its tender flower heads.”
Growing basics — shared by every broccoli
Sidekick grows like any other broccoli. The full picture — how deep to plant, spacing, feeding, pests, harvest — lives on the Broccoli page so it's maintained in one place.
- Sun
- Full Sun
- Spacing (in row)
- 18–24 in
- Row spacing
- 24–36 in
- Planting depth
- 0.25–0.5 in
- Soil pH
- 6–7
- Water
- Moderate
What is Sidekick good for?
- Steamed & roastedThe everyday job. Great
- Raw & saladsTender florets and stems. Great
- Side shootsKeep cutting for weeks after the main head. Great
From how it grows — kitchens vary.
What Sidekick is known for
Johnny's Selected Seeds describes this as:
- takes the heat
That is the company selling the seed, describing its own product. True, and worth weighing as such.
—
Want the full 10/50/90% odds + nearest stations? Open the frost tool →When to plant Sidekick in your zone
Zone 6bGreenhouse or cover on: your start slides ~4 weeks earlier and your harvest stretches ~3 weeks later (shown striped).
Planting seeds straight in the ground only works where the season's long and warm — most gardeners start seeds indoors or buy young plants, or you'd pick your first tomato right as frost hits.
Comfortable — first ripe fruit lands around late Apr, well before your typical frost (~late Oct).
- Start seeds indoors
- mid Feb – early Mar
- Toughen up outside
- mid Mar – mid Mar
- Move plants outside
- mid Mar – early Apr
- Plant seeds outside
- late Mar – early Apr
- Growing
- early Apr – late Apr
- Picking
- late Apr – mid May
Typical dates for zone 6b — set your zone or ZIP above for yours.
What to plant near Sidekick — and what to keep away
-
Aromatic HerbsTrialed
Mixed, strong-smelling plantings make brassicas harder for pests to find — real research, modest effect. Keep mint in a pot.
-
DillTrialed
Dill flowers feed the tiny parasitoid wasps that hunt cabbage worms. Let some of it bloom near the bed.
-
Flea Beetle Trap StripTrialed
A trap strip pulls flea beetles off young seedlings. UMN found mixes of three-plus trap species beat any single one.
-
BeetsTraditional
On the classic chart's companion list for the cabbage family.
-
NasturtiumTraditional
On the WVU companion list, with an aphid-magnet reputation. If aphids pile on, pull those plants before they breed.
-
Onions & garlicTraditional
Old chart pairing; both hold cool-season beds.
-
PotatoesTraditional
Old chart pairing.
-
Beans PoleTraditional
Chart canon says no. Nobody's proven why. Cheap to respect.
-
StrawberryTraditional
Flagged on the classic charts, including WVU's. Mechanism murky; the canon is consistent.
-
TomatoTraditional
Flagged on the classic charts, mechanism murky. Skip the pairing if you've got the space.
The badge is the honesty. Trialed = a published field trial · Practical = a real mechanism · Traditional = companion-chart lore. These pairings hold for every broccoli.
Pairings compiled from University of Minnesota Extension, West Virginia University Extension.
Growing Sidekick — the things that trip people up
- Keep cutting the slender spears young and it keeps sending more for weeks. Grow it in the cool of spring and fall.
- Brassicas are cool-season — they bolt or turn bitter in summer heat, so grow them in spring and fall. Feed them well and watch for cabbage worms (the little green caterpillars); a floating row cover keeps the moths off.
Sidekick broccoli at a glance
| Type | Sprouting |
|---|---|
| Days to ripe | 41 days after you plant it outside |
| Color | Green |
Extra fields from seed-catalog listings and university growing guides. Days to ripe and disease resistance shift with your climate and seed source — double-check with your local extension office before you buy.
Save it and the plant lights up — kept right here in your browser, no account needed. It's the first thing GardenTrack starts remembering for you.
Kept on this device. Want it safe if your browser clears or you switch phones? Back it up free — just your email, no password.
GardenTrack is in beta now — it'll remember every plant you add here and tell you what to do and when. One email, no spam.
Common questions about Sidekick
How long does Sidekick take to grow?
About 41 days from transplant. Start seeds indoors and set out young plants for a strong start.
When should I grow Sidekick?
In the cool of spring or fall — brassicas bolt and turn bitter in summer heat. Fall crops often taste best, sweetened by a light frost.
Browse more broccoli varieties →