Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant thyme in Santa Barbara can be determined by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Thyme

Frost tolerance for thyme:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant thyme quite a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Santa Barbara is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant thyme and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your thyme may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your thyme indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in Santa Barbara. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Santa Barbara is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Barbara last frost occurs after January 31 so just be sure to be ready to cover your thyme in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Barbara

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Santa Barbara

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Barbara.