Looks like just the generic "sweet basil".

Should work out fine for cooking or for pesto. You can harvest leaves just about any time the plant is large enough to handle it, and continue right up to first frost. Basil also freezes very well.

If you want a particular variety, you can grow it from seed - basil is very, very easy to grow from seed.

This post was edited by nickl on Sat, Jun 29, 13 at 11:06

Is it just one plant? It's quite bushy for a sweet basil, and the leaves are a bit smallish. I would guess that it's a type of greek bush basil. It will have similar taste properties to sweet basil, and can be used in the same way.

I hadn't really heard that basil keeps bugs away from tomatoes, but there is something where basil planted with tomatoes makes both taste better, so it's still a good thing to have them co-planted.

It will last longer if you keep the flowers pinched off. You can start harvesting at any time now--general rule is to take up to 1/3 of the plant at a time. Basil works best if you take the top thirds of each stem, rather than cutting whole stems. You'll want to cut the stem just above a leaf juncture--this will encourage further growth.

As the last post said, if you can't keep up with eating it, basil freezes better than it dries. I recommend just washing and letting the leaves dry, then putting it into a zip bag, pulling out just what you want to use. You can also process it and freeze in ice cube trays.

It might be two plants...I think I am going to cut it tomorrow and hope for the best! I have it in a decent sized pot, with another one (or two) plants of basil in the other corner and two tomato plants, one in each if the other two corners. All of it is growing great I just wasn't sure what to do with it now that it has grown so huge and thick! It is growing a bit bush like...

This is the entire pot from the top...

This is the entire pot from the top...

{{!gwi}}

With small leaves like it has, I would guess spicy globe basil.
Taste it and see if it has a bit of a bite to it.