Thyme · Shangrao, Jiangxi, China
When to plant thyme in Shangrao
Main outdoor window
1-22 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
1 March
In Shangrao, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
30 May - 29 Jun
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Shangrao
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
4-25 Jan
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant
1-22 Mar
Around your last frost.
Harvest
30 May - 29 Jun
Thyme through the year
Against the frost risk in Shangrao
Why these dates
Very slow from seed and best started indoors well ahead of the season, or simply bought as a plant.
Survives -18C. As with oregano, waterlogged winter soil is the real threat.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Thyme are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 0 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Shangrao.
Growing thyme in Shangrao
When should I plant thyme in Shangrao?
Aim for 1-22 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 13 Mar - 3 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will thyme be ready to harvest in Shangrao?
Expect to start picking around 30 May - 29 Jun, based on 90 to 120 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will thyme tolerate?
Survives -18C. As with oregano, waterlogged winter soil is the real threat.