One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when to plant thyme is to examine the USDA zone info for Pikeville.

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 one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Pikeville 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. Any later than that and your thyme may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your thyme indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Pikeville. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Pikeville is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Pikeville you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your thyme if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Pikeville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Pikeville

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