![]() ![]() ![]() Gently water the pots or sowed area on a daily basis to ensure success. Transplant as described below. The trickiest thing with sowing seeds is to ensure that the soil stays consistently moist, but not waterlogged. In either case, broadcast the seeds on top of the soil, gently pressing each seed no further than 1/16 of an inch into the earth. Sow seeds indoors in early spring or directly outdoors after all danger of frost has passed. ![]() However, if you so choose to sow, here’s what to do. Thyme seeds can be slow to germinate and gardeners typically choose to propagate from cuttings or divisions instead. Though plants are most easily acquired from your local nursery as young starts, you can also choose to propagate from seed, or from a friend’s plant through root divisions. With a sharp, lemony fragrance, the plant is often included in perfumes, skincare products, and cosmetics, and can also be utilized in homemade insect repellent and essential oil aromatherapy. The leaves can be incorporated into various soups, salads, and sautees, both as a fresh or dried flavoring herb, and accentuate the natural flavor profiles of fish and meat dishes in particular. Keep reading to learn how to sow and grow this herbal queen in your own garden. Thanks to a small root system, it may also become established easily in a rock garden or retaining wall. Hmm… are we the ones cultivating lemon thyme, or is this aromatic plant perhaps cultivating us? Nevertheless, humans are undeterred and actively seek out such fragrant plants for our enjoyment and to fulfill our culinary desires. Fun fact: this fragrance actually acts as a defense mechanism to deter herbivores from gnawing away at the leaves. It can tolerate some light foot traffic and will release gentle wafts of citrus into the air if stepped upon. Growing to about six to 12 inches tall by 12 to 18 inches wide, the compact, aromatic nature of lemon thyme enables it to serve as a nice border plant along your garden beds or edging a path. Like other thymes, Thymus citriodorus requires full sun conditions and is easily grown in average, dry, well-draining soils. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. But I’m still hopeful that the fragrant thyme with keep my soil in place and keep the deer from pruning my Abelia into strange shapes.We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. ![]() I know the latter hope is slim as I’ve seen a doe bend over a rosemary plant while she feasted on the tomatoes beyond it. Here is my hope and I’ll let you know how it all goes – I hope that as the front yard fills in with the creeping thyme it will be able to retain the soil in my yard and that the fragrance will be strong enough that deer will no longer find my front yard appealing. As spring arrives, the thyme is lush and green and spreading which is wonderful because I bought 8 packages of creeping thyme from Park Seed and started the plants indoors for planting once the danger of frost has passed. The creeping thyme held up well during the winter – survived the snow that fell in early December and remained through January. Sure enough – the deer left it alone all summer. She divided some of her plantings and gave it to me to try. The following spring my neighbor told me that the deer had not bothered the section of her yard where she planted creeping thyme. I spent a lot of time re-spreading the leaf mulch over the sloped yard that fall. The leaves slid down the hill revealing the layers of newspaper below it. This worked beautifully until the first hard downpour. I mulched all the fallen leaves – laid down layers of newspaper I had been collecting and spread a thick layer of mulched leaves on top of the paper. The following fall, I figured I would just mulch under the weeds and start over with something else. The rest of the summer I watched weeds take over the front yard as the poor uprooted mondo grass lay dying amongst the weeds. It is true that deer do not like the grass but it does not stop them from pulling it out of the ground and spitting it out. I was new to the deer thing and after buying 100 plants online through eBay and then taking a Saturday to plant them, I found I had created an amusement area for the deer. So, I thought I would plant some dwarf mondo grass and I’d be set. I did not want to grow a lawn mostly because I did not want to mow it all summer long. All the good stuff runs downhill with the downpours that we have been getting recently. At the bottom of my sloping front yard you will find all the good soil I’ve worked hard to cultivate. I deal with hard clay, the constant browsing of deer through my garden and a seriously sloped front yard. Gardening in my area is fraught with many challenges. A creative use of creeping thyme to prevent soil erosion and possibly keep deer at bay. ![]()
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