Thyme

Planting window

When to sow, by microclimate — foggier blocks run a different calendar than sunnier ones.

Sunlight

How well it does at each level of direct sun per day.

Soil depth

Root room it needs — useful for sizing raised beds and containers.

Soil pH

The soil acidity it grows best in — most crops sit just below neutral, so this mostly matters for heavily amended or long-reused beds.

Spacing

Room each plant needs — along the row and between rows — for sizing beds.

Growth habit

The shape it makes in the bed and how tall it gets — what tells you whether to give it a trellis, a stake, or just room.

Habit

Low mound

Mature height

6–12 in

Low and self-supporting — no staking needed.

Growing in containers

Whether it does well in a pot, planter, or window box — the SF balcony-and-deck question, weighing its footprint, form, and staying power, not just root depth.

Happy in a pot, planter, or window box — no garden bed required.

How to start it

Sow it where it grows, or raise it under cover and set it out — and how far ahead to start the seedlings if it's the latter.

Usually

Transplant

Goes in as a rooted start, cutting, or division rather than raised from seed.

Getting started

How it goes in the ground — how deep to sow or set it, and the soil temperature it needs to wake up. The cold-soil floor is the real limiter for direct-sowing in a foggy SF spring.

Started from

From seed

Ideal soil temp

59–68°F

Sow depth

0–0.125 in

Time to emerge

7–14 days

Watering & feeding

How thirsty and how hungry it is — the water it wants and how much feeding the bed needs to keep it producing. In the fog belt even a thirsty crop drinks less than it would inland.

Water need

Low

Gets by on less — water deeply, then let it dry out between; forgiving of a missed day.

Feeding

Light feeder

Undemanding — good soil is plenty; a rich, fed bed does more harm than good.

A drought-tolerant Mediterranean herb — water sparingly, letting the soil dry between; it dislikes wet feet. Needs little to no feeding.

Pests & diseases

What tends to trouble this crop — what it is, what you'll see, and what to do about it, least-toxic first.

Our sources document no specific pests or diseases for this crop; it's generally grown without major pest trouble in home gardens.

Harvest & storage

How to tell it's ready to pick, and how to keep it once it's in.

Keeps

WeeksHolds a week or two in the fridge.

Ready to harvest

Snip fresh stems any time for cooking, best just before the blossoms open; leave the tough basal growth.

Storing

Fresh thyme keeps one to two weeks wrapped and refrigerated; it also dries and freezes very well.

Culinary use & nutrition

What it's for in the kitchen, and the nutrients a 100 g raw serving is a notable source of.

Pollinators & wildlife

What this crop offers the garden's wildlife once it flowers — often the payoff for letting a bolting plant stand.

Bees

Honeybees and natives — bumble, mason, and sweat bees — working the flowers for pollen and nectar.

Beneficial insects

Hoverflies, lady beetles, and parasitoid wasps that keep aphids and caterpillars down.

A thyme allowed to bloom carpets itself in flowers so small and shallow that bees and hoverflies both feed easily; harvest sprigs all season and you never see it.

Companion planting

What grows well nearby, and what to keep apart.

No research-backed companion pairings for this crop — folk pairings without evidence are left out on purpose.

Earns its keep among brassicas — thyme helped reduce cabbage worms in broccoli, and with sage it knocked back diamondback moth on Brussels sprouts.

Sources