Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County

Gardener's Request:  Can I plant mint and thyme together?  Thank you for your response.

Help Desk Response:  Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk.

Mint and thyme are wonderful herbs to have in the garden; both herbs have a lovely scent and their flowers are attractive to many beneficial insects.

Mint is considered a rather aggressive herb; therefore, it is best to plant mint by itself in a pot, not in the ground. You can try to plant both mint and thyme together in a pot; however, please realize over time the mint will probably take over the thyme. Mint and thyme also have different water requirements, thyme requires less water than mint.

Hope the above addresses your question. You can find further information regarding mint and thyme in the links below. Both links reference Sonoma County but the information should apply to Contra Costa County as well (we assumed you live in Contra Costa County).

Mint:  http://sonomamg.ucanr.edu/The_Kitchen_Garden/Feature_Vegetables/Mint/
Thyme:  http://sonomamg.ucanr.edu/Food_Gardening/Feature_Vegetables/Thyme/

Please let us know if you need further assistance with this or other herb gardening.

Happy Gardening!

Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (mlk)

Note: Contra Costa's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions.  Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone:  (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at  http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ignore.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Biog.