One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Portales can be reviewed to figure out when it's a good idea to plant flax.

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 Portales is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant flax and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your flax may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your flax indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Portales. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Portales and it is different every year. Half of the time in Portales it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your flax in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portales

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Portales

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