Growing thyme successfully: How to plant, care for and harvest the healing plant
Created: 08/18/2022, 06:00
By: Janine Napirca
Would you like to plant thyme in your garden, on your balcony or on your windowsill?
Then you should consider the following.
Many people like to refine their dishes such as potatoes, fish or roasted meat with thyme.
A note of thyme can also be used with raw vegetables, salad or quark, or you can combine the spice with lemon balm and tarragon to make herbal vinegar.
You can also use thyme as a fragrance blend or as a tea to heal indigestion, colds, cuts or bruises.
As a bath additive, the medicinal plant helps against skin rashes and rheumatism.
Plant thyme: It's so easy to enjoy the healing spice plant
You can cultivate thyme either in the garden or on the balcony, but also on the windowsill.
According to
Kiepenkerl.de
, you should sow thyme as a pre-culture between February and March, as direct sowing between mid-April and mid-May.
Press the seed onto the ground without covering it with additional soil.
The plants germinate within ten to fifteen days.
While the leaves are ideal for refining dishes such as quark or for preparing tea, you can serve your dishes wonderfully with the blossoms of thyme.
© F. Hecker/Imago
According to the report, after a period of time you should divide older plants and propagate existing plants by stolons or cuttings.
Thyme can be harvested all year round.
You can also use the flowers of the plant as a decoration for serving food, for example.
You should pay attention to this if you want to cultivate thyme
There are different ways you can cultivate thyme.
Either you buy a plant, you prefer it yourself or propagate the thyme with cuttings.
According to
Plantura.garden
, however, you should always note the following:
Time: | from mid-May after the last frosts |
|---|---|
Location: | sheltered, sunny, warm |
Substrate: | loose, poor in nutrients, warm, well-drained |
planting distance: | 25 cm |
planting depth: | water well after planting, not deeper than when it was sitting in the pot |
pot culture: | Pot must be at least a third larger than the root ball, drainage layer, water must be able to drain well |
Important types of thyme: the spice and medicinal plant is so diverse
You can plant different types of thyme.
My beautiful garden
has brought together important species including their special features.
Because there are not only thyme varieties that act as a herb or medicinal plant.
Thyme is also on the rise as an ornamental plant.
Thyme does extremely well in rock gardens as well as in heather gardens or Mediterranean gardens.
Lemon thyme:
smells and tastes strongly of lemon, yellow-green mottled, golden yellow or white-edged leaves, can develop shoots up to 35 centimeters long, needs protection in cold winter
Cascade thyme/long-stem thyme:
grows quickly, forms dense carpets, purple/pink flowers April-May, requires a plant spacing of 30 centimeters in the bed, well suited as a spice plant
Medicinal thyme/broad-leaved thyme/wild thyme:
completely hardy, grows like a cushion, reaches a height of ten centimetres, fine, smooth, green, little aromatic leaves, flowers May-September purple in spherical clusters at the ends of the branches
Wild thyme:
smells spicy, low growth, scarlet flowers, well suited for rock gardens or paving joints, helps against gastrointestinal complaints and colds
Upholstery thyme:
often combined with bulbous plants in rock gardens or on walls as a carpet of flowers, grows to about five centimeters high
Caraway thyme:
reminiscent of caraway and is often used to season quark or potatoes, flowers dark pink
Five reasons why you should cultivate thyme
According to
Meine-ernte.de
, there are numerous reasons why thyme should be cultivated.
Read the five most important ones below:
Thyme is more than a tasty spice.
Do not underestimate the healing properties of the plant.
For example, if you have a cold, you can prepare thyme as a tea or make a bath additive out of it.
Cough drops, cough syrup or cold ointments often contain thyme.
Thyme can be used both fresh and dried.
Because taste and smell do not decrease over time - on the contrary: drying them intensifies them.
You don't necessarily need a garden or balcony to cultivate thyme.
The plant also grows and thrives wonderfully on the windowsill in the kitchen.
Because there are so many different types of thyme, the spice never gets boring.
If you grow thyme in your garden, you will attract numerous beneficial insects thanks to the intense scent and bright colors of the flowers.
On the other hand, pests such as snails or ants are driven away, so that other vegetable plants benefit from the thyme at the same time.
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Growing thyme as a mixed culture: These plants make good neighbors
If you want to grow thyme as a mixed culture, you should choose plants as neighbors that have similar soil and location requirements.
According to Plantura.garden
, other Mediterranean herbs such as rosemary, sage or lavender are suitable.
But you can also cultivate savory, tarragon or lemon balm alongside thyme.
With basil, you should be aware that thyme requires less water and fertilizer.
While thyme also gets along well with vegetables like cabbage or lettuce, it's best to avoid planting it next to marjoram or peppermint.