#Thyme seedlings Patch
#Thyme seedlings full

Of course, the most popular use for the thyme herb is to flavor cooking. Pruning will help the plants grow into more bushy shapes. Snip the sprigs or leaves in the early morning before the sun is its strongest, but after the dew has dried from the leaves. You can snip the leaves throughout the entire growing season. The leaves will have their best flavor if harvested before the thyme plant blooms.

When you prune your thyme plant, you can use the leaves in cooking (thyme pairs very well with eggs), or air-dry the leaves or sprigs and then use them dried through the winter. Thyme can be planted alongside other herbs, or use it as a natural insect repellent by planting it in your vegetable garden with your cabbage or tomatoes to help repel cabbage loopers and maggots, whiteflies and tomato hornworms.

Since thyme tends to grow out rather than up, it can fill up quite a large space in your garden fairly quickly.

#Thyme seedlings Patch

While thyme will grow and thrive in planting zones 5-9, it is one of the winter herbs that will benefit from being mulched with pine needles, dried leaves or straw before the cold weather really sets in.Īfter several years, you can divide your thyme plants and either share them with friends and neighbors or start a new thyme patch for yourself. Bees love thyme flowers, so while you will want to trim back your thyme plants again in the fall, give the pollinators time to suck the sweet nectar out of the blossoms first. A member of the mint family, it does like to spread but isn’t nearly as invasive as mint can be. The thyme herb does well in containers, window boxes or pots, and loves to trail over rock walls or in between the stones in a path. Growing herbs outdoors is a great way to fill empty spaces in your vegetable or flower garden. And resist the urge to fertilize, because that can lead to leggy plants as well. Pruning back about one-third of your thyme plants in the early spring can help them to grow bushier instead of leggy. It actually seems to thrive when left alone.

#Thyme seedlings full

The thyme plant likes full to partial sun in well-drained soil, but other than that, like most other herbs, it’s not terribly picky about the type of soil or other conditions. Once your seedlings are about four inches tall, they can be transplanted outdoors.

If you start them indoors, cover them with plastic wrap until they sprout, which can take two to four weeks. The seeds should just barely be covered with soil and lightly watered. Cut leafy thyme sprigs as needed once plants are well established.Thyme can be planted from seed, seedlings or by splitting an established plant. If you are starting your thyme from seed and growing herbs outside, direct sow them into the ground in late spring after the last frost. Little lilac flowers bloom in midsummer cut back foliage halfway when the blossoms fade to keep plants looking fresh. Given a sunny location with good drainage, easy-growing thyme plants are reliable productive and long-lived garden perennials. When seedlings are several inches tall, thin out, leaving clumps of 3-4 seedlings 8-10 inches apart so plants have room to grown and spread. Sow very thinly, cover seed lightly and be careful to keep the seed bed evenly moist and well weeded. Plant thyme after soil has warmed up in spring in a finely textured seed bed with good drainage in full sun. When seedlings are 2 inches tall, gradually acclimate to outdoor conditions and transplant clusters of 3-4 seedlings 8-10 inches apart. Cover seeds very lightly and keep evenly moist but not soggy until seedlings emerge in 14 to 21 days. Sow thyme in early spring in a container of seed starting mix.