I'm not sure I can see anything wrong with your basil. The base of the stems will get brown and woody as the plants ages. This is normal. When you say the top part wilts and dies, what exactly happens? Basil leaves are often naturally puckered looking. The basil in the photo looks pretty healthy. Possibly you are overwatering and there is a bit of fungal rot creeping in. Not picking off the flowers would not make your basil die.

Well, the whole plant may look good. Then one small section of the plant starts to wilt bad and leaves start dropping off it.

I may be over watering it. I'm in Z6. When it is hot 88-92 how often should it be watered when it is planted in ground?

Thanks John.

Here is close up photo of the wilt. The rest of the plant is fine.

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On another note. It looked like site had some photos of green plastic triangle tomato cages. What is your opinion of them? Was thinking about trying em.

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I have put my basil in a spot where it is half shady, half sun. Now it has died. I watered it every 2 days at the least.
Why did it die?

Perhaps too much water and not enough sun.

FataMorgana

Also, you don't say where you live, but February is not a good time to try to grow basil in the Northern Hemisphere unless you live in a hot sunny area country.

BTW - it's not advisable to put your email on here.