Thyme plants, care, varieties and growing conditions for the UK gardener

Available in a range of varieties Thyme plants are more than a culinary herb, they are a great aromatic plant for the garden, make an intersting ground cover plant and are attractive to bees.

Readily are available for sale from many online nurseries. Thyme varieties or species include thymus vulgaris ( common thyme ) thymus caespititius ( tufted thyme), Thymus x citriodorus Archers Gold (picture right) and thymus serpyllum ( wild or creeping thyme).

So which species and varieties of thyme are good for what ?

Widely found in kitchen gardens thyme is best known as a culinary herb and Thymus vulgaris or French thyme is the most widely used and is probably the tallest growing species at around 18 inches.
So besides being used in cooking dishes like lamb and fish what else can a gardener do with thyme ? Lets explore.

Firstly remember that thyme is from Southern Europe, a Mediterranean climate so if you are considering growing it try to replicate the climate and soil conditions. Generally, full sun, fairly dry, defiantly well drained and not to much fertilizer. In the UK you could try growing it indoors, try a pot on a sunny window sill.
In the garden we have established that this is great culinary herb, however thyme can also be used as low growing border plant, a ground cover or even as a filler between paving stones.

Propagating thyme

You can easily buy thyme plants at most nurseries and specialist herb farms will have a range of species, however it is always nice to be able to grow your own, so what are the alternative here. The easiest form of propagation is to divide large clumps, as thyme grows along the ground it sets down roots so it is fairly easy to break down a large clump into smaller plants. This is best done in spring when the plant is coming into active growth. This is also a great time to transplant, just dig it up and plant it elsewhere, remember the growing conditions, sun and well drained soil. We usually water in with a seaweed solution, as this seems to promote root growth.

What about growing thyme from seed, if you wish to plant seed in a cold frame in early spring, it should germinate in around 14 days, allow it to harden off and get to a good size before transplanting.

Care, Fertilizer and Pruning of Thyme

The only really problems in the UK is to much water , not enough warmth and frosts. So if we create the well drained position in full sun we can try a few tricks to create a little extra warmth, some small light colour pebbles placed beneath the plant will allow a little extra warmth to be reflected, the pebbles will also hold a little extra warmth over night.

What about lemon thyme (thymus citriodorus) , same conditions as all of the others, and yes it makes a great container plant. And as a ground cover try creeping the Thyme Thymus serpyllum