Last edited on October 16, 2026. View history
Lemon Thyme
A variety of thyme
How to sow lemon thyme: Transplant cuttings or seedlings or direct seed indoors
Sun requirement for lemon thyme: Plant in Full Sun
Thyme is a perennial evergreen herb in the Lamiaceae (Mint) family. It is related to Oregano. Thyme is cold-hardy to -28.8 °C and a perennial in US Hardiness zones 5-8. Thyme can live for 5-6 years but needs to be divided or replaced after 3-4 years. It can be used fresh or dried to season dishes.
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Lemon thyme facts
Lifespan
Crop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For lemon thyme, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 4°C and a shortest growing cycle of 100 days at its best temperature, about 1650 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your lemon thyme will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing lemon thyme
- Sow seeds in trays 8 weeks before planting out
- Water until established at planting out every week
- Pick sprigs at first harvest every 2 weeks
- Trim after flowering 8 weeks after first harvest
- Trim back old growth 12 months after planting out
- Replace woody plants 48 months after planting out
How members grow lemon thyme
Sunniness
Planted from
Plant lemon thyme with
olive
lacinato kale
red pointed cabbage
Photos
Photos
Lemon thyme crops
Video
Where lemon thyme grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
What people are saying about lemon thyme
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Who's planted lemon thyme
- neotoma Right flowerbed · Silver Spring, MD
- LeighS Garden · Melbourne Victoria...
- Spadix Flower patch
- auwillia Around the garden shed · N Alaska, Portland,...
- redheadedreader Garden · Santa Fe, NM
Lemon thyme harvests
Nobody has harvested this crop yet.
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 100 to 200 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Thymus vulgaris L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Asteridae Lamiales Labiatae |
|---|---|
| Life form | shrub |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells), excessive (dry/moderately dry) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about lemon thyme
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