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Thyme is an incredibly useful herb. You can use it in recipes or as a cough suppressant; it attracts beneficial insects, like bees; and it grows just as well on a windowsill as it does in your garden beds. This perennial herb will grow in Zones 5 through 9 and reaches about 1 foot high. Although thyme comes in both upright and prostrate forms, you should choose upright varieties for cooking because low-growing types are often gritty with rain-splashed soil.
Growing Guide
Soil preparation: A well-drained site with sandy soil in full sun to partial shade is ideal for thyme.
Planting: Thyme seed is rarely true to type, your best bet is to start with plants or divisions. Once established, thyme is easy to keep looking good and producing well. Prune it lightly as needed to maintain its attractive shape.
Spacing: Space new plants 12 inches apart.
Harvesting For fresh use, pick individual leaves or small sprigs as needed. If you want to dry thyme, strip the leaves from the stems and place them on a thin screen to dry before storing. Thyme also freezes well—just make sure you use an airtight container.
Trivia Tidbits From the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries, thyme was used to combat the plagues that swept over Europe. And as recently as World War I, thyme's essential oil served as an antiseptic on the battlefields.
