90 days from sowing.
English Thyme has never been so easy to grow! SimplyHerbsâ„?are multi-seed pellets that will sprout several seedlings from just one pellet. Perfect for growing in containers, SimplyHerbsâ„?takes the guesswork out of growing lush, multi-plant containers to meet your culinary needs all season!
Easy to maintain, long-lived, and rewarding, English Thyme is a must-have in the kitchen herb garden and in patio containers. Essential for seasoning a huge range of dishes, these small gray-green leaves are packed with flavor and easy to harvest by letting the stems dry (after cutting from the plant) for a few days, then simply stripping the leaves.
English Thyme is a woody perennial (technically a shrub), which will bring you four to five good years of foliage before it should be replaced. (The leaves begin to lose their flavor as the stems grow woodier with age.) If allowed to go to flower, it is a marvelous bee attractant, but if you want to use the foliage in cooking, pinch off the buds as soon as you see them, because the flavor of the foliage deteriorates when the plant blooms. However, you might just have to compromise and grow another containerful for the ornamental appeal and natural pest repellent abilities of thyme!
This thyme reaches 12 to 18 inches high and about 24 inches wide. The stems are closely packed and short, standing almost straight up. And it's evergreen above zone 6, so it makes a nice winter companion in warmer climates to a container display that includes ornamental cabbages and kales, snapdragons and pansies.
Early each spring, cut this plant back to about half its size. This will greatly improve its vigor and branching. Don't simply shear it -- you want to remove the topmost portion of each branch but leave growth on every stem. This simple treatment will result in much more dense, attractive, and healthy plants all season long.
Sow these multi-seed pellets in the container you want to grow them in. Ideal germination temperature is about 65 to 70 degrees. They should sprout within the month. (Yes: they are not the quickest to sprout, so schedule accordingly!) Once sprouted, they thrive in high light or full sun. Give them good quality potting soil, and refresh the soil every year for best growth.
It's such a pleasure to have an herb that returns season after season -- not to mention a fragrant, attractive plant that fights off destructive insects in the container garden! Zones 4-8. Packet is 20 multi-seed pellets.
