Plant thyme in gravel

This must-have herb for cooking takes up a tiny amount of space.
Time to plant: spring-early summer

Thymes need poor, well-drained soils to thrive and they love hot, dry sites. Plant them in a gravel path or in a sunny corner by a house wall and they’ll be perfectly happy. There are lots of different varieties, some tiny leaved and carpeting, others bushier and larger leaved, but all are good for cooking with. They also flower prolihcally and, although the flowers are small, the plants become a mass of pink, mauve or white in the summer months. The flowers are also good for attracting pollinators such as bees into the garden. Plants may need protection from winter wet, which can cause them to rot covering them with a small cloche or a piece of glass raised up on bricks should do the trick.
Good choices include 'Minimus’, which makes a tiny, dense carpet of leaves; lemon thyme, which has a lovely flavour; ’Doone Valley’ with gold and green variegated leaves.

TIP Trim off all the flowers after they've finished to keep the plants bushy and to encourage new growth.

image: http://www.keppelcroft.com/pixxeri/thyme.jpg