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.

The USDA zone info for Saline should be used to estimate when to plant thyme.

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 frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Saline 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. 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

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Saline. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Saline is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Saline you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your thyme in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Saline

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Saline

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