One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to estimate when to plant thyme by using the USDA zone info for Valparaiso.

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 earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The last month that you can plant thyme and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your thyme may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your thyme indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Valparaiso. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Valparaiso is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Valparaiso there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to cover your thyme if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Valparaiso

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Valparaiso

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