Thyme
Growing and Uses

Orange Spice Thyme

This is a kitchen herb that has short roots and does well as a container plant. It’s a great culinary herb easily potted in an herb planter right outside your front door.

The short roots fit perfectly into any herb pot or herb container. This easy herb comes in different varieties such as lemon, orange, French, silver, lime, caraway, lavender and nutmeg to name a few.

Growing and Caring for your Herb

Soil – light and well drained, full sun and alkaline

Some varieties need to be purchased as a plant. Others like English, French and wild herb varieties are easily grown from seed. They do not need bottom heat to start. Start the seeds in a light peat moss starter mix soil. Lightly water and put under grow lights right after planting the seeds. Do not over water at the beginning. Seeds should start to come up within 7 – 14 days.

After the “true leaves” are established transplant to individual small pots 2” wide or 1” pot trays. They come with 72 holes in a tray. You can thin and transplant each individual plant or as a clump of five plus or minus a few.

Gradually expose to outdoors conditions for two weeks to harden the plants. Then you’re ready to plant outdoors in your kitchen herb garden, container garden or anywhere you would like to have a little time to yourself.

Pick the leaves in the summer time. They are most fragrant and medicinal when they are in bloom. Use fresh or dry some for the winter time.

Wild thyme the most medicinal

Using Your Thyme Wisely

• Garden edging – grow shrubs for low hedges or aromatic garden pathways

• Honeybees - bees love its nectar and its honey is a highly valued crop

• Flowers and leaves – decorations for the patio table providing summertime
  
• fragrance

• Culinary – Add to stocks, stuffing, soups, stews, salads, sauces while aiding digestion of fatty foods another benefit of herbs

• Food cooked in Wine – slowly cooked foods such as poultry, shellfish and game

• White wine – infused for cordials and as an aphrodisiac

• Liqueur – enhance infused liqueurs with lemon-scented variety

• Vinegars – herbal vinegar's mixed with parsley or other herbs

• Other foods – chicken, fish, hot vegetables, fruit salads and jams

• Aromatherapy – add to potpourri

• Medicinal – English wild thyme, this is the variety I grow and no matter how long you cook it the medicinal properties are still there.

• Tea – infuse for digestive tonic, hangovers, colds and sore throats with added honey - Visit my shop
  

• Essential oil – Used for headaches, antiseptic air spray for the winter time

• Other medicinal herb benefits – may also relieve insomnia, circulation, muscular pain and stimulate white blood cells to resist infection
  

• Mold prevention – protect paper from mold

• Fairy potion – In medieval times the magical potion made from this edible herb plant was thought to enable the person to see fairies

• Hole Herb Charm – the first herb listed by those with “herb cunning” in the Middle ages

• Courage – from the Greek word “thymon”

Pink perfume lavender with wild thyme

Varieties

• English  – Thymus vulgaris, dark leaves and robust growth habit

• French  - Thymus vulgaris, narrow leaves, sweeter than English

• Silver  – Thymus vulgaris, same flavor as English, good  edging plant

• Lemon – Thymus x citriodorus, lemon flavor, busy habit, dark leaves

• Golden lemon – Thymus x citriodorus ‘Aureus’, golden leaves with yellow tinges, great lemon flavor and fragrance

• Orange Spice ™ – Thymus ‘TM95’, orange and spice scent, dense mats

• Caraway  – Thymus herba-barona, caraway scent and flavor, good for herb breads

• Lavender – Thymus thracicus, strong lavender scent, garden edging plant

• English Wild  – Thymus praecox arcticus and Thymus serpyllum, most medicinal of all the thyme herbs, good thymol content, used in cooking

So, plant some thyme right outside your front door for a quick snippet to add to your culinary dishes. Get the medicinal benefits of herbs too!

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