Call me silly, but if you don’t have thyme growing in your garden you can’t call the place an herb garden.  It is one of the most essential and helpful plants around.  It does not hurt that there are over 100 unique varieties with tempting flavors and smells.

It doesn’t matter which variety of thyme you grow, all of them have a woody, twig like stem and small oval-shaped leaves.  Thyme will have small purple, pink or pale white blooms that bud in early summer or late spring depending on the climate.

Some of the many varieties, here are three you will probably want to be familiar with:

• Common Thyme: This variety of thyme is the one that fills most of the small seasoning jars you can get at the grocery store.  It is a little taller type that also has a strong flavor and aroma, which makes it wonderful for your recipes.  You can examine the leaves of this vaiety of thyme to determine which of the following 3 kinds it is.  While the English kind has variegated leaves, the leaves on the German kind are broad and the French are thin.

• Lemon Thyme: You’ll never guess what lemon thyme smells like.  If you guessed roses, you should better go back to flower gardening.  You cannot mistake the smell of lemon that emanates from lemon thyme.  You can even find some types of lemon thyme that have small yellow flowers.

• Wild Thyme: This type of thyme isn’t usually planted for use in the kitchen, so don’t believe that every thyme plant is exactly the same.  If you are seeking an interesting ground cover, this is a great starting point.

Cooking with thyme is as easy as snipping off some leaves and tossing them to your recipe.  Thyme does well with trimming back and there is no better way to prune your thyme than to harvest some leaves for a fantastic entree.  If your abilities are not found in the kitchen, you can still use your thyme to make cosmestic products.  Thyme can be used in anything from soaps and shampoos to potpourri or you can simply throw some in your bathwater.

Those same folks will say to use it to cure many different ailments such as sleeplessness, gas, asthmatic breathing, headaches, poor digestion and coughing.  It pretty much can do anything but bring in the newspaper.

It is one of the best herbs to raise.  This herb loves full-sun and well-drained, rich soil and can be raised indoors too.  This herb takes a while to germinate, so you might find it easier making a trip to the greenhouse and beginning with plants instead of seeds.  For your outdoor thyme, use it in your rock garden or along a stone wall or over a rustic driveway.

If you would rather dry your thyme for use over the winter than bring your thyme indoors, just cut off each branch at the stem and hang it upside down to dry.

Don’t neglect to get the seeds on your thyme herb.  Believe it or not, they can even be used in germination up to three years later.

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.

Here is more information on Herb Garden Plants. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.