One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The USDA zone info for Madison should be reffered to in order to estimate when it's possible 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.

You can plant flax a little bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant flax in Madison 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your flax may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your flax indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Madison may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Madison last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your flax in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Madison

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