When to plant thyme?
- Botanical name
- Thymus vulgaris
- Family
- Lamiaceae
Thyme is planted from April to June. It is harvested all year. It is cut back from April to May.
Thyme is a woody perennial. The edible parts are the leaves and flowers.
Thyme grows in two forms. Creeping varieties spread low over the ground, and the upright kitchen varieties make a small bush. Division is the route for the creeping ones.
In winter thyme is threatened by wet, since the roots rot in damp ground. In heavy or wet soil a trough and a raised bed suit it better.
Thyme has its strongest flavour just before flowering, so that is when sprigs are gathered for drying. The leaves stay green through winter as well. During the year the soft tips of new shoots are cut.
Thyme through the year
- planting
- harvest
- cutting back
In short
Growing conditions
Is thyme toxic to cats and dogs?
No. Thyme is not toxic to cats and dogs.
Companions in the bed
Companion planting is tradition and not an agronomic claim. What is recorded is which pairs sources recommend and which they advise against.
Thyme is a perennial and broccoli an annual, so plant the thyme at the edge of the bed, where it stays once the broccoli is gone.
Both are perennials and both stay low. Thyme needs drier soil than the strawberry, so it goes at the edge and not in between.
- “Cited” means the pair is named by one source or two.
Pests and diseases
Listed here is every problem for which the sources name this plant as a host. The problems are not listed in order of how common they are.
- Signs
- Over the upper side of the leaves there is a coarse pale speckling, and on the underside small animals that jump away quickly. By the end of summer the leaf can be heavily mottled, while the growth of the plant is hardly affected. The affected herbs are perfectly safe to eat.
- Prevention
- It overwinters as an egg on the plant itself and is active from May into autumn, so cleared old wood and foliage at the end of the season helps. Encourage birds, ladybirds, parasitic wasps and ground beetles.
- What to do
- No spray is needed: the pest does not affect the growth or the vigour of the plant, so the right answer is to put up with it. If the look bothers you, cut back the most mottled shoots, because the new growth comes clean.
- Signs
- The leaves are eaten and left as short stubs with a grey brown edge where the tissue has dried. The metallic green and purple beetles are on the plant all year round.
- Prevention
- Action is usually not needed, because a healthy plant takes the beetle. Encourage birds and ground beetles.
- What to do
- Pick them off by hand or shake the branches over a sheet of paper laid underneath, easiest in the morning, when the beetles are slow.
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Related plants
The plants below are in the same botanical family (Lamiaceae).
Sources about the plant: ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants, BUND Region Hannover, GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, NC State Extension Plant Toolbox, Penn State Extension, Royal Horticultural Society, University of Georgia Extension, University of Maryland Extension, University of New Hampshire Extension, Utah State University Extension, Wikidata. Checked between 14 and 17 August 2026. The problem descriptions also draw on: EPPO Global Database.