One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant thyme is to use the USDA zone info for Hopatcong.

Planting Calendar for Thyme

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

You can plant thyme much earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Hopatcong 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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 few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Hopatcong is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Hopatcong you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your thyme if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hopatcong

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 Hopatcong

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