One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Shelbyville you should be able to determine 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.

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

The earliest that you can plant flax in Shelbyville 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

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Shelbyville. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Shelbyville is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Shelbyville last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your flax in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Shelbyville

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 Shelbyville

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