Thyme, an herb with little care for such taste and blooms

Thyme

Thyme is both a cute little perennial and a fabulous herb.

Top Thyme facts

NameThymus
Family – Lamiaceae
Type – condiment

Height – 8 to 16 inches (20 to 40 cm)
Exposure – full sun
Soil – light, well-drained

Foliage: evergreen – Flowering: spring – Harvest: all year

Pruning and caring for it help ensure that your thyme grows well.

Sowing and planting thyme

It is possible to sow thyme from seeds, and to plant it from young plants purchased in nursery pots. Since it is resilient to drought and resists heat, it is very easy to grow.

Sowing thyme

To prepare seedlings, you must sow in a nursery in spring.

  • Sowing thymeFirst of all, sow your thyme seeds with special seedling soil mix.
  • Cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil mix.
  • After that, sprinkle water over lightly to keep the substrate a bit moist.
  • Sprouting usually happens 2 to 3 weeks after sowing.
  • Finally, you can transplant the seedlings in the ground 5 to 6 weeks after sprouting.

How to plant thyme

Once the young plants are well developed, or if you’ve purchased young plants directly in nursery pots, transplant them ideally in spring, preferably in light and well-draining soil.

  • Planting thymeMost important to remember is that thyme needs sun to develop well.
  • It can tolerate any type of soil, even rocky and poor soil.
  • Regular watering is recommended during the first year after planting, but not too much and only if it doesn’t rain.
  • Make sure the pot drains well, it can’t cope with sitting water.

Thyme in a pot

Thyme is an excellent herb for growing in pots. The most important thing to remember is that this is a “dry land” plant.

Pot with thymeIt won’t do very well if the soil stays wet for a long time.

  • A great solution is to ensure very good drainage, with lots of sand and gravel in the growing mix.
  • Also, pots should have a drainage hole at the bottom.
  • Finally, you shouldn’t rest the pot in a saucer: water might collect in it and roots will stay wet. Better to let it drain away freely.

If you do need a saucer to protect furniture underneath, then uplift the pot up with more gravel or clay pebbles between pot and saucer.

Multiplying thyme

Thyme can be propagated through crown division at the beginning of spring. This technique helps boost thyme production, and it also serves to regenerate old bunches.

Pruning and caring for thyme

Thyme is a plant that is easy to grow and care for.

You can cut stems off your thyme whenever you need some all year round.

It is best to cut stems from recent growth to stimulate appearance of new shoots.
It is best to select the younger stems and collect them in the morning before dawn, which is when flavors are most concentrated.

  • Caring for thymeRemove dead branches at the beginning of spring.

Help your slow-growing thyme by weeding around it to stifle out competition.

To maintain its dense, compact shape, wait for the end of the blooming season to prune it delicately.

However, if you are growing thyme in order to harvest it, it is best to prune it before flowering.

Diseases and parasites that attack thyme

Very resistant to virtually all diseases, thyme’s main enemy is a type of fungus that makes it rot.

  • Thyme starts to whither and dies off, starting with the roots.

Thyme is generally an excellent companion plant in the vegetable patch, where it tends to fend off fungus and insects. For instance, it repels “large white“, the butterfly responsible for devastating cabbage harvests.

Species and varieties of thyme

Varieties of thymeThere are over 350 species of thyme! Thymus x citriodorus is much appreciated for its lemon-like smell.

Certain varieties are favored for their gold, mottled or silver colored leaves.

During hikes around the Mediterranean, you’ll often come across wild thyme, a delicious cousin of our cultivated thyme.

Keeping thyme

Harvesting thyme

Thyme harvestThyme can be harvested all year long, but its flavors are most concentrated when it is blooming.

Its flowers are always a welcome decoration in summer dishes and salads.

  • Cut branches, not the base.
  • It is best to harvest thyme from soft wood that is still green.

Keeping thyme

There are two ways to keep it. It’s possible to either dry the leaves or store them in a freezer.

In the first case, place collected stems in a dry and ventilated place until they are completely dry. After that, they can be ground and kept in a jar for several months.

Freezing has the advantage of preserving their flavor, and thyme can keep this way for several months.

Learn more about thyme

White-flowered thyme bloomingNative to the Mediterranean area, thyme is very fragrant and is famous for seasoning grilled meat and fish.

It is often used in infusions for its digestion-supporting properties, and also in cooking to flavor sauces and soups.

It is a rather hardy plant that resists temperatures below freezing and diseases very well.

Thyme, with scientific name Thymus officinalis, has certain beneficial medicinal properties, for example it eases digestion and relaxes the body.

Smart tip about thyme

No need to water, thyme will be perfectly happy with poor and dry soil. It grows naturally in desolate arid places.


Images: CC BY 2.0: Lucy Meskill, Rebecca Wilson; own work: Rosalyn & Gaspard Lorthiois; Pixabay: Paulina Kupis, Iren, Sabine Kroschel, Alejandro Piñero Amerio; Unsplash: Anja Junghans