Last edited by kat on 10 Nov 2026. View history
Thyme
How to sow thyme: Transplant cuttings or seedlings or direct seed indoors
Sun requirement for thyme: Plant in Full Sun
Thyme is a perennial evergreen herb in the Lamiaceae (Mint) family. It is related to Oregano. Thyme is cold-hardy to -28.8 °C and a perennial in US Hardiness zones 5-8. Thyme can live for 5-6 years but needs to be divided or replaced after 3-4 years. It can be used fresh or dried to season dishes.
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For thyme, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 4°C and a shortest growing cycle of 100 days at its best temperature, about 1650 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your thyme will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
by shawnacscott,
This weekend I had two full days to really focus on the yard, and I made the most of it. With the intermittent help of several others over the course of the weekend, I got both easement planter boxes filled with compost and soil, cleaned up and weeded the alley, got the stump pulled from the coni…
lettuces
arugula
mustard
sunflowers
dill
onions
beets
tomatoes
fenugreek
bell peppers
okra
artichokes
mint
lavender
spinach
basils
thyme
parsley
zucchini
peas
calendulas
by Mshathvri,
Hi! I'm Wendy and I live in Livermore, California, USA. I live in the suburbs and have been learning about permaculture for two years now. Right now my project is slowly converting my lawn into a food forest, one module at a time.
I began with a 10x20 starter garden on the north side of my h…
nectarines
apple mint
thyme
oregano
by ribbonknight,
The first plant is a cucumber, Mexican sour gherkin, which I've grown from seed. Firstly, yay, the things I grew from seed this year have been way more successful than last year!
The cucumber looks like this: 
by Skud,
… but I'm tired of it, so I won't. I just wish our mutual understanding of the term "quiet enjoyment" involved fewer inspections and more autonomy in the garden.
Anyway. The other day I picked up some herbs from the CERES nursery, and on Monday I planted them along the fron…
rosemary
oregano
thyme
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Thymus vulgaris L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Asteridae Lamiales Labiatae |
|---|---|
| Life form | shrub |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells), excessive (dry/moderately dry) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | long day (>14 hours) |
Resources outside Growstuff.
olive
lacinato kale
red pointed cabbage
Photos
shiny harvested not specified.
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