Dying thyme

[Jannarogers01]

Hello. I cannot keep thyme alive in the ground. I keep buying lovely big pots of it, and as soon as it goes into the ground, it is going brown and dry.

I have tried in pretty much every spot in my garden. I'm really green fingered with most other things!

I do have alkaline soil and very hard water, I do try to water with a can from the baut when possible, but my garden is pretty large so there is no escaping the hose sometimes. COuld it be this? At my previous house in the same area I did not have this problem.

[Snoop Puss]

I see no-one's answered yet, so I'll just stick my oar in.

I've never grown thyme as there's lots of it that grows wild where I live. However, it's a very short-lived plant and seems to go brown and dry quite quickly in its natural environment. So maybe this is what thyme does.

With any luck, a thyme expert will drop in and tell you how to mollycoddle it to keep it going for longer.

[veggiechicken]

I'm not a thyme expert - some go brown and die quickly here too.
AFAIK they like dry, sunny, stony ground - maybe you're giving them too much water?
As I've said elsewhere, I don't water anything in the garden except seedlings and newly planted things!

Where do you live, that would help us advise you.

[scarey55]

I think VC may have a point, mine is in a very badly overgrown stoney soil as you can see and it is doing quite well.





I don't water much either VC My veggies have to be crawling through the desert crying water, water before they get anything

[Jay-ell]

Most of my thyme only gets watered if I happen to water the bed next to it and spill a bit. It gets trod on, buckets and trugs dropped on it and hacked back severely now and then and it's doing well.

It's growing in the path, either stuck in cracks between the stones at the side between bricks and the bed edging.

At home I have two types stuck down the garage wall where it's in a rain shadow.

What is your soil like? You could add some grit for drainage or grow in a raised bed with free draining soil.

[Bren In Pots]

Mines in a pot that contains a fair bit of sand and gravel it only gets watered when I remember.

[Greenleaves]

Doesnt Thyme like neglect and poor soil?

[Jannarogers01]

And I see I have my answer. I have been far too nice to it! I'll move it to the dry bed that gets neglected that I asked about in my other thread today! Thanks all