One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to determine when you can plant flax by reviewing the USDA zone info for Ruidoso.

Planting Calendar for Flax

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

Flax do well in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant flax in Ruidoso 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. If you wait any later than that and your flax may not have a chance to fully mature. 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

In Ruidoso the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Ruidoso is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ruidoso it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your flax in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ruidoso

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Ruidoso

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