How To Grow Thyme (Easy Growing And Care Tips)
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If you enjoy growing perennial herbs in your garden, you’ll love growing thyme. This popular culinary herb can also be grown as an ornamental plant in your garden. With varieties that grow tall and bushy and others that creep along the ground, you can grow the perfect one for your tastes and space.
There are many varieties of thyme you can choose from with different tastes, colors, and scents. Growing thyme in your herb garden opens up so many types you can enjoy that simply can’t be found in most grocery stores.
There are three varieties of thyme that are the most popular to grow English, French, and German thyme. All are excellent for culinary uses and look beautiful in your garden.
Thyme is a low-growing, woody, evergreen shrub that you can harvest year-round. Although fresh thyme harvested in the spring and summer will have the best flavor.
During the early summer thyme blooms with pretty white, pink, or mauve flowers attracting many bees and other beneficial insects to your garden. It makes a beautiful ground cover in your flower gardens with the bonus of being a wonderful culinary herb.
Varieties Of Thyme
English thyme (Thymus vulgaris) – English thyme also called common thyme is more cold-tolerant than the French varieties. That’s something to keep in mind if you live in an area that gets cold winters. It grows to 12 inches (30 cm) tall and has pretty pink flowers.
French thyme (Thymus vulgaris) – French thyme is a variation of English thyme and is also called summer thyme. It has small greyish-green leaves and a stronger pungent flavor. It’s a great choice to use when cooking meat, fish, or vegetables. But it’s not as cold tolerant as English thyme. Hardy in zones 6-10 and should be grown as an annual in zones lower than 6.
Lemon thyme – Lemon thyme has a lovely hint of lemon and tastes great with chicken dishes.
Orangelo Thyme (Thymus fragrantissimus) – This variety has a lovely orange scent and is sweeter than summer thyme. With light pink flowers that look beautiful grown in hanging baskets or trailing over the edge of your rock garden. It grows 8 inches (20 cm) high and spreads further each year. It’s a tender perennial and hardy in zones 6-8.
German Winter (Thymus vulgaris) – German thyme is considered a good winter hardy variety. It’s similar to the English variety but less intense in flavor. German thyme grows 12 to 18 inches high and is Hardy in zones 4-8. You might be able to overwinter it down to zone 3 with protection.
How To Plant Thyme
Thyme is a herb that loves heat like most Mediterranean herbs, so it’s best to plant it in an area of your garden that gets full sun.
But make sure the area has well-drained soil because thyme is sensitive to wet soils. If you have heavy clay soil that stays wet it will encourage root rot.
Thyme is best grown in loamy or sandy soil with good drainage. If you have clay soil try digging in some sand and compost to improve the drainage.
Thyme plants depending on the variety can grow to be 6 to 12 inches high. Because of its thick, bushy growing habits, they can be prone to mildew problems.
To help with this plant thyme plants 12 to 24 inches apart to allow for airflow around the plants.
How To Grow Thyme
Watering
Thyme is a very drought-tolerant herb, but young plants that have just been transplanted into your garden will need consistent watering for a few weeks. This will help the plants to get established and recover from transplant shock.
You don’t want to give too much water, you want moist soil not soggy.
A mature thyme plant needs little water and will thrive in dry conditions. To water thyme wait until the soil is dry in the top 1 to 2 inches and then water deeply. This will encourage the roots to grow deep into the soil where the moisture level is more stable.
Fertilizer
Thyme isn’t a heavy feeder but top dressing around your plants with a little compost in the spring or fall will help to provide nutrients for good growth. It also helps to build the organic matter in your soil.
Pruning
Thyme can spread out to take up a large area. To help contain the growth you can prune the plants back in the spring or fall.
You’ll want to divide the plants or replace them every 3 or 4 years. Older thyme plants tend to have more woody growth and some believe this makes the leaves less flavorful. Pruning can help to encourage new growth but eventually, you’ll want to start new plants or pick them up from your local garden center.
Harvesting
To get the best flavor from your thyme plants it’s best to harvest it early in the morning just after the dew has dried. Avoid washing the leaves if they are clean because it can remove the oils that give them more flavor.
To harvest thyme cut off 5 to 6 inches of growth leaving the hard woody stems behind.
For bushy growth, I like to cut just above a leaf joint as I find this encourages both leaves to grow into their own branches.
Thyme can be harvested heavily 2 or 3 times in one growing season or you can just snip a little off as you need it.
But stop harvesting 1 month before your first frost date in the fall. This will help the plants overwinter better.
You can store your thyme in the fridge for 1 to 2 weeks. For longer storage freeze or dry.
Enjoy your homegrown thyme in fish dishes, chicken dishes, and soups.
More Herb Garden Ideas
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Kim Mills is a homeschooling mom of 6 and lives on an urban homestead in Ontario, Canada. Blogging at Homestead Acres she enjoys sharing tips to help you save money, grow and preserve your own food.
