×
  • Home
  • Daily
    • Composting
    • Container Gardening
    • Easy Healthy Recipes
    • Food Preservation
    • Garden Design
    • Garden Tools
    • Growing Fruits & Berries
    • Indoor Gardening
    • Pests & Diseases
    • Seeds & Seedlings
    • Soil & Fertilizer
    • Spice & Herb Gardening
    • Vegetable Gardening
    • Watering & Irrigation
  • Freebies
  • Videos
  • Magazines
    • Food Gardening Magazine
    • RecipeLion Magazine
  • Guides
  • Cookbooks
    • Beverages
    • Bakery
    • Breakfast
    • Appetizers
    • Salads & Dressings
    • Soups
    • Entrées
    • Side Dishes & Sauces
    • Desserts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Affiliate Program
  • Sponsor Program
  • Give a Gift
  • Privacy Policy & Terms of Use
  • Manage Account
  • Authors
  • Keyword Index
  • Join

Food Gardening Network

Growing Good Food at Home

Join
Mequoda Publishing Network
  • Daily
    • Composting
    • Container Gardening
    • Easy Healthy Recipes
    • Food Preservation
    • Garden Design
    • Garden Tools
    • Growing Fruits & Berries
    • Indoor Gardening
    • Pests & Diseases
    • Seeds & Seedlings
    • Soil & Fertilizer
    • Spice & Herb Gardening
    • Vegetable Gardening
    • Watering & Irrigation
  • Freebies
  • Videos
  • Magazines
    • Food Gardening Magazine
    • RecipeLion Magazine
  • Guides
  • Cookbooks
    • Beverages
    • Bakery
    • Breakfast
    • Appetizers
    • Salads & Dressings
    • Soups
    • Entrées
    • Side Dishes & Sauces
    • Desserts
  • Sign In
  • Search

Planting and Pruning Thyme

Gardening Guide: It’s About Thyme: All You Need to Know About Growing, Harvesting, and Cooking with Thyme

arrow-left Previous
Next arrow-right

Planting and Pruning Thyme

By Norann Oleson

Young thyme with an attractive rock border

Young thyme with an attractive rock border

Planting Your Thyme

Once you have your planting location, your tools and supplies, and your plants, it’s time to start your thyme garden. If you’re starting your plants indoors from seeds, begin in late February to early April. Thyme seeds take a long time to germinate and take root. Sow the dust-like seeds on the surface of dampened, sterilized seed-starting mix under bright light with bottom heat. Keep watering to a minimum, as thyme seedlings are prone to damping off. Once they’ve sprouted, transfer the strongest seedlings to peat pots to make planting easier.

When seedlings are large enough, harden them off—that is, the process of slowly acclimating indoor-grown plants to outdoor elements by taking a week or so to introduce them to the eventual outdoor with increased shading and cooler temperatures, for example—then transplant them to the garden or to containers spacing them at 9 to 15 inches apart. Most thyme varieties are hardy to USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 4 (others to zones 5 or 6) and can be transplanted outdoors in late April or May, or when it is past the last frost date in your area and the ground temperature warms. You can direct sow in late May or when the ground is 60 to 70 degrees F.

Pruning Your Thyme

Pruning thyme in a garden bed

Pruning thyme in a garden bed

Prune your thyme plants at different times in the growing season to maintain their vigor and leaf production.

To keep your plants from getting too woody in the future, give your thyme a light pruning in late summer, after blooming. Using sharp shears or snips, select the woodiest stems of the plant and cut them back by about two-thirds.

If your thyme plants are already well into the woody stage, they may need a hard rejuvenation. In late fall, after the first frost, select a third of the most woody stems and cut them back by half.

Thyme—especially creeping thyme—can get a little wild. In the spring, you can give the plants shape, or cut the stems back from stepping stones, etc.—with a selective ‘haircut,’ again using sharp, clean shears.

Of course, if you’re using your thyme crop for culinary, medicinal, or craft purposes, you will be ‘pruning’ your thyme as you harvest. However, it’s a good idea to stop harvesting three to four weeks before the first frost, so the tender stems can harden off before winter.

Please tell us about your thyme planting and pruning techniques in the comment section below. Have you faced any challenges with planting or pruning your thyme? How have you handled it? Please share your experiences.

arrow-left Previous
Next arrow-right

Tags

thyme, thyme varieties

Comments

Click here to cancel reply.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Curator’s Corner
  • Introduction
  • Feature Articles

  • Types of Thyme Plants
  • A Word About Varieties of Thyme Plants
  • Choosing to Grow Thyme from Seeds or Seedlings
  • Growing Thyme in Open Land, in Raised Beds, or in Containers
  • Starting with the Right Soil for Your Thyme Plants
  • Planting and Pruning Thyme
  • The Right Sunlight for Your Thyme Plants
  • Should You Fertilize Your Thyme Plants?
  • How—and When—to Water Your Thyme Plants
  • How to Spot, Treat, and Prevent Thyme Diseases
  • What to Do About Pests that Can Harm Your Thyme Plants
  • The Right Way to Weed Your Thyme Patch
  • Essential Tools and Equipment for Growing Thyme
  • Plant Profiles

  • Lavender Thyme (Culinary & Ornamental)
  • Woolly Thyme (Ornamental)
  • Caraway Thyme (Culinary & Ornamental)
  • Lemon Thyme (Culinary & Ornamental)
  • French Thyme (Culinary)
  • English Thyme (Culinary)
  • Recipes

  • Thyme Tea
  • Thyme and Mushroom Soup
  • Lemon Thyme Tea Bread
  • Garlic Thyme Chicken Thighs
  • Cheddar-Thyme Biscuits
  • Roasted Potatoes with Lemon Thyme
  • Feta and Olive Bake with Thyme
  • Additional Articles

  • Nutrition Facts about Thyme
  • Home Remedies & Health Benefits of Thyme
  • Resources about Thyme
  • Thyme Glossary
  • Related Articles

  • 8 French Cooking Herbs to Grow to Make Herbs de Provence
  • How to Keep Thyme Alive and Growing Year After Year
  • How to Grow Culinary Thyme in a Container

Enter Your Log In Credentials

This setting should only be used on your home or work computer.

  • Lost your password? Create New Password
  • No account? Sign up

Need Assistance?

Call Food Gardening Network Customer Service at
(800) 777-2658

Food Gardening Network is an active member of the following industry associations:

  • American Horticultural Society
  • GardenComm Logo
  • MCMA logo
  • Renewd logo
  • Manage Account
  • Join
  • About Food Gardening Network
  • Contact Us
  • Affiliate Program
  • Sponsor Program
  • Give a Gift
  • Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Food Gardening Network
99 Derby Street, Suite 200
Hingham, MA 02043
support@foodgardening.mequoda.com

FREE E-Newsletter for You!

Discover how to grow, harvest, and eat good food from your own garden—with our FREE e-newsletter, delivered directly to your email inbox.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Powered by
Mequoda Publishing Network
copyright © 2023 Mequoda Systems, LLC

Food Gardening Network® and Food Gardening Magazine® are registered trademarks of Mequoda Systems, LLC.