When to Plant Thyme in Princeton, IL

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

It's a good idea to determine when you can plant thyme by checking out the USDA zone info for Princeton.

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Planting Calendar for Thyme

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

Thyme do well in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant thyme
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant thyme
Probably not a good time to plant thyme

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Princeton. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Princeton may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Princeton it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your thyme in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Princeton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Princeton

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