Growing Thyme In Your Kitchen Garden

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Thyme is herb that is rarely used in Indian cooking. It is basically a Mediterranean herb that is used in Continental cooking. However, the globe trotting Indian how uses thyme to season pizzas and make pastas. The difficulty is in finding thyme in the market. As thyme is not readily available in India, it is best to grow this herb in your kitchen garden.

Growing thyme is a good idea because it is perennial herb. Once you start growing thyme, the herb grows all year round and keeps you well supplied with your favourite exotic spice. Many people maintain a personal spice garden because it allows them to get good quality spices at home.

If you like to indulge in different culinary delicacies, start growing thyme in your spice garden using these steps.

Steps For Growing Thyme In Your Garden

Thyme requires hot and dry weather. Most places in India are hot and humid. So it make not be ideal, but will be near perfect weather for growing thyme.

Culinary thyme usually grows very well as a potted plant for shrub. There are other types of thyme that are climbers; ditch them. If you live in an apartment, a potted thyme plant is best for you.

You can either buy a sapling which may be difficult to find or you sow seeds of thyme in a prepared bed. You must sow the seeds in fall so that they sprout by summer.

Thyme plants need moderate watering, usually once a day. But if the climate is too humid you can cut down on the water supply. Try watering it on consecutive days. However, in hot and dry weather, thyme needs to be watered daily.

The ideal time to harvest thyme is in the summer. Come hot weather, the thyme plants will flower. You need to cut off the top parts of the shoot and dry them in the sun. When the stems dry, pluck out the leaves and stone it for culinary uses.

Thyme plants love limestone so you can add limestone powder as manure. Don't add organic matter or kitchen waste for fertilisation because it may spoil the flavour of the herb.

You can continue to prune your thyme plants in summer, but do not cut them too much in winter and fall. They may die or their growth might be stunted.

These are some simple steps to grow thyme under Indian weather conditions. How often do you use thyme while cooking?