Thyme has been used as a herb since ancient thymes.  It is not too picky about where it grows as long as there is good drainage and full sun.  It can tolerate a little shade, tho. 

You can keep it trimmed when you harvest stems for fresh use or drying.  It will put out a fresh burst of green growth in the early summer, which is a good time to give it a little compost or vermicompost.  At the end of it's growing season, cut back the stems by 2/3.  Next years growth will come up between the old stems, and then you may wish to break off the old dry stems.

If you have plenty of thyme, use it freely in recipes, as a meat wrap for grilling, in fresh salads and drinks.  Dry some for mixing your own finnes herbes recipe for winter soups and stews and stir fry cooling.  It is also used for making candy and cookies.  A good cook simply has to have thyme.

Thyme Lemonade

2 cups fresh lemon juice (about 10 lemons)

1 1/2 c sugar

1 bunch of fresh thyme plus some sprig for garnish

In a medium sausepan, bring sugar, thyme and 1 cup of water to boil, stir until sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes.  Turn off heat.  Stir in lemon juice and about 6 cups of water.  Strain into a large picture, refrigerate until cold (at least one hour) and serve with a tiny sprig of thyme floating on top.

Herbal lemonades serve to enhance the ability of lemonade to cool your body down during the hot weather months.