Crops › Thyme
How to grow Thyme
in the UK
Sow April to May, plant out June, harvest June to September. About 90 days from seed to plate.
If you're after a cracking herb that's easy to grow and dead useful in the kitchen, Thyme's your plant. It's one of them staples on my allotment, always there, doing its job, providing lovely flavour. You can grow it in pots or straight in the ground, it's not fussy.
Sowing
Right, so for Thyme, you're looking at sowing from April to May. If you're starting indoors, pop the seeds in trays or small pots with a bit of compost, barely cover them over, just a light dusting, you know what I mean. They like it warm, around 18-21°C. For outdoors, wait until the soil warms up a bit, usually later in May up here in the North East, after that last frost is well and truly gone. You can sow direct then, just a tiny bit of soil over them. Or, to be honest, a lot of folks just buy plug plants, which is grand too.
Growing on
Once those little seedlings are big enough to handle, like they've got a couple of proper leaves, you can prick them out into individual pots. Let them grow on a bit, then give them a good hardening off for a week or two, taking them outside during the day. After the last frost, usually mid to late May for us up North, you can plant them out. Give them about 20-30 cm spacing, or pop a few in a decent-sized container. They don't need any support, just let them do their thing.
Looking after it
Thyme isn't one for needing a lot of fuss, to be honest. It likes well-drained soil, so don't be overwatering it, especially if it's in a pot. Too much wet, and it'll get a bit sad. It doesn't need much feeding either, a bit of compost when you plant it is usually enough. After it's flowered, give it a bit of a trim to keep it bushy and stop it getting too leggy.
What goes wrong
Now, like with most things on the plot, you'll get the odd pest. Slugs can have a nibble when the plants are young, so keep an eye out and pick 'em off if you see 'em. Aphids might turn up, but a quick squish with your fingers usually sorts that. I always plant a few marigolds or nasturtiums nearby, they seem to help keep the nasties away a bit, or at least distract 'em.
Harvest
You can start harvesting your Thyme about 90 days after sowing, usually from June right through to September. Just snip off sprigs as you need them, don't take too much from one plant at once. For storing, you can tie bundles and hang them in a cool, dry place to dry out. Or, like the app says, pop it in the fridge if you're using it fresh, it keeps for a good while.
I always try to plant some Thyme near my path or where I brush past it, that way you get a proper cracking smell every time you walk by, it's chuffed me no end.
Dates for your plot
Type the first half of your postcode and the plant-out advice shifts to your area's typical frost dates.
Varieties, and whether the club would grow them again
| Variety | Club verdict |
|---|---|
| English (Common) This one's a proper workhorse, always gives you a good crop. Great if you're just starting out or want a dependable herb. | No club votes yet |
| German Winter It handles the cold well up here, meaning you get a bit more growing time. Crackin' for leaving outdoors even when it gets a bit nippy. | No club votes yet |
| French Another good, solid choice for your kitchen garden, always comes through for you. You can't go wrong with this one if you're after a steady supply. | No club votes yet |
| Lemon Thyme Gives a lovely lemony tang to your cooking, a real favourite of mine for fish dishes. It's a reliable outdoor grower and smells fantastic when you brush past it. | No club votes yet |
| Caraway Thyme This one has a unique, slightly spicy flavour, a bit different from your usual Thyme. Worth a go if you fancy something a bit out of the ordinary for your cooking. | No club votes yet |
| Creeping Thyme It spreads out nicely, making a lovely ground cover and suppressing weeds a bit. Good for planting between paving stones or at the front of a border, proper pretty when it flowers. | No club votes yet |
| Orange Balsam You get a real sweet, orangey smell from this one, it's just lovely on the plot. It's a cracking choice for adding a bit of a citrusy twist to your recipes. | No club votes yet |
| Silver Posie This one has lovely variegated leaves, a proper attractive plant even before you think about the flavour. It looks grand in a pot or at the front of a border, adding a bit of silver to your planting. | No club votes yet |
| Variegated Lemon A real showstopper with its pretty variegated leaves and that lovely lemon scent, proper chuffed when mine does well. It's good for adding both flavour and a bit of visual interest to your herb patch. | No club votes yet |
| Doone Valley This one's another good all-rounder, very dependable for outdoor growing and a good flavour. It's robust and will give you plenty of sprigs through the season, a good honest Thyme. | No club votes yet |
| Woolly Thyme It's got these soft, fuzzy leaves, which makes it feel lovely to touch, a bit different from the others. Great for a sensory garden or just for something a bit unusual in your pots. | No club votes yet |
| Elfin This is a real tiny, compact one, perfect for tucking into small gaps or along path edges. Don't let its size fool you though, it still gives you that cracking Thyme flavour. | No club votes yet |
| Summer Thyme As the name suggests, this one's all about providing you with plenty of fresh Thyme right through the warmer months. A really strong grower for a steady supply of flavour when you need it most. | No club votes yet |
| Highland Cream This one's got lovely cream-edged leaves, making it a proper pretty addition to any herb patch or container. It's hardy too, so you know it'll do well outdoors. | No club votes yet |
| Archer's Gold You get these bright, golden leaves with this variety, proper cheerful looking on the plot. It brightens things up and still gives you that good Thyme flavour for your cooking. | No club votes yet |
Votes are members rating varieties in their Seed Tin, one vote per gardener. Tap a variety for the full page and where to buy.
Buy Thyme seeds
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Cook the harvest
A deeply savoury, velvet-smooth potato soup built almost entirely around fresh thyme, which is added in two stages to give both depth and brightness. The base is a classic combination of leek, potato and stock, but the quantity of thyme here takes it somewhere far more interesting than your average blended soup. Crispy fried shallots on top add crunch and the whole thing comes together in well under an hour.
50 min · easyA proper British beef stew where a generous bunch of thyme is added to the pot at the beginning so it infuses all the braising liquid over three hours of slow cooking. The result is a deeply savoury, herb-scented stew with falling-apart beef and a thick, glossy gravy. This is cold weather cooking at its finest and gets better the day after it is made.
210 min · mediumA deeply earthy risotto where dried porcini and fresh chestnut mushrooms are combined with a generous amount of thyme that perfumes every grain of rice. The thyme is added at three different stages — in the base, with the mushrooms, and scattered over at the end — building layer upon layer of herby warmth. It is exactly the sort of dish to make when the evenings start to cool at the end of summer.
50 min · mediumA deeply savory French-inspired gratin where fresh thyme is the backbone of the whole dish — stirred through the beans, layered into the sauce, and scattered generously on top before baking. It is the kind of thing that tastes like it took all day but comes together in under an hour, and it is substantial enough to serve as a proper weeknight main with nothing more than good bread alongside.
50 min · easyWatch for, and grow alongside
Companions: marigolds, nasturtium
Questions people ask
When do you sow Thyme in the UK?
Sow Thyme from April to May. Plant out June, after the last frost.
How long does Thyme take from sowing to harvest?
Roughly 90 days, with the harvest June to September.
Which Thyme varieties do gardeners grow again?
Club members rate every variety they grow. This page shows the grow-again votes for English (Common), German Winter, French, Lemon Thyme and more.
Track your Thyme from packet to plate
Sowing reminders and harvest forecasts for your own frost dates, the Seed Tin, Scan Centre for any label or packet, and the Potty Mouth Garden Club. Free to start.
Allotment keeper in the North East of England, the voice behind the Tony C Smith YouTube channel, and the gardener who built GrowMore CookMore. Club numbers on this page update as members log their plots. Last updated 3 September 2026.