One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 figure out when it's possible to plant flax by referring to the USDA zone info for Salem.

Planting Calendar for Flax

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

Flax are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant flax in Salem 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 little bit earlier by starting your flax indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Salem. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Salem and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Salem there is a last frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your flax if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Salem

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Salem

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