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

A common way of determining when to plant thyme is to examine the USDA zone info for Waterford.

Planting Calendar for Thyme

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

Since thyme are very cold tolerant you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Waterford 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 really do well. If you are starting your thyme indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Waterford. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Waterford may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Waterford it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your thyme if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Waterford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Waterford

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Waterford.