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Planting Red Creeping Thyme as a lawn replacement #757912

Asked June 23, 2021, 1:10 PM EDT

Hi there, We have a fairly small lawn, and I've been wanting to replace it with a low-maintenance perennial ground cover that can handle a little bit of foot traffic. I've been reading about Red Creeping Thyme, and think it would be a good choice. Do you have any experience with using this as a lawn replacement in Iowa, or any tips/tricks/best practices to share regarding planting it? Is it too late in the season to plant it by seed? I read that it should be sown when temperatures are over 60 degrees, but perhaps hot temperatures like those we're likely to have in July would be too much of a stress? If there are any seed sources for this that you recommend that would be great too. Thank you so much for any information you can provide. Christine

Black Hawk County Iowa

Expert Response

Christine-

Thank you for your question.  Thyme is a good lawn alternative, but here are a few things to keep in mind....

Creeping thyme will need full sun to do well.

Creeping thyme needs excellent drainage.  Plants do not do well in heavy clay or poorly drained soils.  Many typical lawn situations in Iowa will have heavy or poorly drained soils.  Compost and other organic matter can be integrated into the soil to improve drainage and loosen the heavy clay.  

Creeping thyme is best established by plants or plugs (small rooted plants) in the spring.  They are planted on 8" to 18" centers - the closer you plant them together, the sooner the lawn will fill in.  It will likely take several years for the entire planting to fill in.  Seed is not typically as successful as planting plugs, but if you wanted to start from seed, it should be sown in early May.  July is too late in the season to successfully start this lawn alternative from seed.  

I would recommend looking for plugs from an online supplier or asking your local garden center to source them for you.  With this much lead time, most local garden centers should have no problem sourcing and ordering plants/plugs for you in the spring if they are willing to do special orders.  

The following link has a lot of wonderful tips and suggestions for a creeping thyme lawn: https://ask2.extension.org/kb/faq.php?id=552876  The advice is for a gardener in Colorado, but in particular the information on site preparation and establishment applies to us here in Iowa.  

Happy gardening!

Aaron Steil Replied June 24, 2021, 10:21 AM EDT

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