A weak nonlinear oscillatory mode of thermal instability is investigated while deriving a non autonomous complex Ginzburg–Landau equation. Darcy porous medium is considered in the presence of vertical throughflow and time periodic thermal boundaries. Only infinitesimal disturbances are considered. The disturbances in velocity, temperature and solutal fields are treated by a perturbation expansion in powers of amplitude of applied temperature field. The effect of throughflow has either to stabilize or to destabilize the system for stress free and isothermal boundary conditions. Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are obtained numerically and presented the results on heat and mass transfer. It is found that, throughflow and thermal modulation can be used alternatively to control the heat and mass transfer. Further, it is also found that oscillatory flow enhances the heat and mass transfer than stationary flow. Effect of modulation frequency and phase angle on mean Nusselt number is also discussed.