I like to grow flax, and mess around with doing it fairly efficiently. This is a guide to the best method I have come up with to get the most out of a flax cycle.
I use Tedra's Folly seeds, and I highly recommend them for anyone that doesn't use them yet or have anything better. The yield is crazy compared to many other seeds at 7RottedFlax and 7Flax per plot. Tedra's Folly seeds the same as the starting flax except it gives 8 seeds per harvest. The growth pattern is 1 weed then harvest.
This is how I flax 18 plots at a time and can keep up with the weeding near 100% of the time. The following table represents an area of grass you're going to use for growing flax. Start out in the upper right corner of your field and make sure your plant menu is pinned as you won't have time to keep clicking it open. You should also make sure that your hotkeys are working for plant harvesting.
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| . | . | . | . | . | . | X | . |
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Then you want to move to the left, planting 5 plots as you move. Click about a plot's width away then plant, click to move, and then plant again. I don't just drop plots on the run for each row because it both messes up the spacing and throws off the timing. Dropping the plots too fast can cause you difficulty in keeping up with the weeding. Repeat moving and planting until you get the following:
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| . | . | 05 | 04 | 03 | 02 | 01 | . |
| . | . | X | . | . | . | . | . |
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Get into position on the next row under your fifth plot. Right here is the critical step that allows you to really keep up with the weeding despite the variance you oft get in weed times. You are now going to stand in this spot for a 3 count. This will give you time to completely finish weeding the first row before the second row gets too far. After you do a 3 second count, start on your next row of 5 in the opposite direction.
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| . | . | 05 | 04 | 03 | 02 | 01 | . |
| . | . | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | . |
| . | . | . | . | . | . | X | . |
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After this row is done you should wait another three count in the spot getting ready to do your last row just like the second row. The serpentine shape used here minimizes the running around between plots to allow you to weed faster.
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| . | 18 | 05 | 04 | 03 | 02 | 01 | . |
| . | 17 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | . |
| . | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | . |
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Once you've finished with the bottom row keep going without pausing this time, and immedaitely add an end cap of three more plots going up the far side (16,17, & 18.) This should put you fairly close to the starting point when you're done planting. You should be finished in just enough time to run back to plot #1 and start the weeding process. If you paused at the right times you should be able to easily weed all the fields in the same pattern you laid them down in.
If you're using Tedra's Folly seeds, the yield on this cycle should be 126RottenFlax and 126Flax, so you might want to do this near a chest so you can dump these off after each cycle because you can easily become overburdened with over 250Flax a cycle! ;)