Mid-late spring I had cut them back forming a nice round mound and by the end of June they had recovered and were in full bloom. Once they finished blooming I pruned back all the spent flowers and let them put on some more growth for one more harvest.
Here is my English thyme in full bloom at the end of June.
I grow several types of thyme because I love it so much. The three that need to be harvested this week are my English thyme (Thymus vulgaris), Lemon thyme (Thymus x citriodorus), and French thyme (Thymus vulgaris). For well over 10 years now English thyme had been my favorite thyme for culinary and medicinal purposes. Then two years ago I tried French thyme. Today I prefer this variety over the English thyme as it has a wonderful scent and flavor. Last year I took cuttings of the French thyme and I now have it growing everywhere in containers.
The Lemon thyme is of course yet another favorite. Who can resist that pungent lemon scent that fills the garden when you brush up against it? It is also delicious in cooking. My family loves when I take a large bunch of it and place it in the cavity of a whole chicken prior to roasting it.
When I harvest these herbs most end up being dried and stored away but some do get used in making flavored vinegars. Awhile back I wrote about how to make chive flower vinegar. The same directions for the chive flower vinegar apply for making any type of simple herb vinegar. So to make the thyme vinegar I would use thyme in place of the chive flowers. A really yummy addition to the thyme vinegar is to add some peppercorns and onion to the vinegar and herb mixture and let this infuse. This is very good when made with the Lemon thyme.
I dry my thyme the same way I dry most of my herbs; by placing them in the oven with the oven light on. Sometimes I will hang thyme up to dry in bunches but the weather has cooled down suddenly and they probably would not dry thoroughly if I was to do so now.
Preparing for my last harvest of thyme is yet another reminder to me that the growing season is coming to a close. Once they are harvested I tell the thymes goodnight for another year until their anticipated return in the spring.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
It looks beautiful. I love the sage beside it also. I love thyme too and will have some next year. I want to make some oils for cooking.
Thank you Anna. You’ll love growing it next year. It is one of my all time favorite herbs to grow. -Cynthia
I planted some thyme in my new rock garden area last month. I think it was called mother of thyme or something like that. It’s very low growing though, it doesn’t look at all like yours. It never occurred to me to harvest any, I suppose I have quite a few plants I could harvest and dry including sage and lavendar.
Hi Cinj,
-Cynthia
Mother of Thyme does grow rather low but you can still harvest it and use it in cooking. It actually is quite good too. If you harvest and dry some sage now you will have it in time for Thanksgiving dinner!
That English thyme is so pretty! And so nicely shaped.
Hi Nancy, it is beautiful when in flower. It also can make a nice container plant.
-Cynthia
The English Thyme is really beautiful in that first photo. I will had to start adding herbs to my garden because along with their culinary benefits their blooms are quite pretty.
Hi Racquel,
-Cynthia
People are always surprised by how pretty herbs can actually be. Many have very pretty flowers. Most of my garden is full of nothing but herbs so you can tell I am very partial to them!
Thanks for this neat post, I can’t wait to try the lemon thyme vinegar. I have let my thymes languish, I wonder if they would be more vigorous if I sheared them back as you do. Hm, something to try! Do you have orange thyme? That one’s yummy too.
I have found that they do look much nicer when you prune them back more. Which is easy if you harvest them a couple times during the growing season like I do. I am familar with Orange thyme but I have yet to grow that one. Perhaps I need to add that to the herb garden next year…..Hmmm I could at least grow it in another container if nothing else! 
-Cynthia
Hi Karen,
Thank you for saying this post was neat!
I love the idea of making herb vinegars and floating a few little marigold petals in there, too! You have some gorgeous specimens – don’t know if mine will be as pretty.
Thank you so much jgh! The marigold petals should turn the vinegar a nice gold shade if enough are added which would be a nice touch to the finished product. I’ll have to post some pics if I get to making some this week so everyone can see what I mean.
-Cynthia