Woody Thyme

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Woody Thyme

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quixoticgeek

Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 296
Location: Canterbury

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 15 12:31 pm Post subject: Woody Thyme
I have a thyme plant that has gone rather woody, does anyone have any recommendations on how I can get this back into a compact bush with plenty of green on it? Cheers J

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 15 1:02 pm Post subject:
I think you just earth them up, don't you? ie, bury the woody bit and it regenerates.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45521
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 15 1:26 pm Post subject:
prune ,if you cut half back the first go and once that has re grown do the same to the second half you should end up with a "new wood" bush on a mature root system. same sort of thing applies to lavender and other woody stemmed herbs

quixoticgeek

Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 296
Location: Canterbury

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 15 1:34 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

prune ,if you cut half back the first go and once that has re grown do the same to the second half you should end up with a "new wood" bush on a mature root system.

same sort of thing applies to lavender and other woody stemmed herbs

Excellent, is it ok to do so at this time of year? I have a rosemary bush in the same planter that is getting quite big, perhaps I can do both at once.

J

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45521
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 15 2:22 pm Post subject:
yep and yep as a bonus any soft bits that get trimmed are tasty or might root in a sandy compost with a plastic bag to keep em moist for the first week or so .

chickenlady

Joined: 18 Aug 2013
Posts: 413
Location: Dorset

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 15 3:16 pm Post subject:
I think you can prune back to woody stems (in summer) with English lavender - but not with French lavender. If you hard prune French lavender you'll kill it. With thyme - I dug the whole thing up and reburied it almost completely in a deeper hole.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45521
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 15 6:57 pm Post subject:
im fairly sure all the lavenders i have maintained are english ones.

OtleyLad

Joined: 13 Jan 2007
Posts: 2737
Location: Otley, West Yorkshire

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 15 7:21 pm Post subject:
All the woody cuttings make nice kebab sticks too.

Andrea

Joined: 02 May 2005
Posts: 2260
Location: Portugal

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 15 1:57 pm Post subject:
What's the difference between a French and an English lavender then?

sueshells

Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 690
Location: North Bucks

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 15 2:02 pm Post subject:
French has a different shaped flower and also generally has a wider, softer leaf. It's also less hardy.

Andrea

Joined: 02 May 2005
Posts: 2260
Location: Portugal

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 15 2:43 pm Post subject:
Thankyou. Guessing mine is Portuguese lavender

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