One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant flax by referring to the USDA zone info for Chico.

Planting Calendar for Flax

Frost tolerance for flax:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since flax do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant flax in Chico is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant flax and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your flax may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your flax indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Chico. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Chico is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Chico it frosts late in the year after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your flax if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chico

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Chico

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Chico.