One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 getting a good idea when to plant thyme is to use the USDA zone info for Clayton.

Planting Calendar for Thyme

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

Thyme do ok in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Clayton 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. Starting your thyme indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Clayton and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Clayton it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your thyme in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Clayton

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 Clayton

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