My basil loves to go to seed. That is it's mission in life. To go to seed and die. It takes almost daily pruning for me to stay on top. It seeds like crazy! I would let one or two go to seed for next year's seeds and trades.

Thank you both very much for the responses to this question.. Sounds like the "going to seed" issue is quite normal and obviously necessary for the continuation of the species.. Had not factored in the time spent in pots before I bought the plant!
Thanks again,
S

Actually, basil(especially Asian/Thai varieties) are nice flowering plants, like salvia. Sometime I plant them in pots along with miniature hot peppers ...and regular flowers.

In general basil confined in pots will go to seed faster than that grown in the ground. You could save some mature seed and plant your own seedlings.

Wanted to let all of you know that I now have my scissors out near the basil plants in the garden and elsewhere near the pots.. I'm a seed trimming fool after reading your posts and I certainly don't want them to die anytime soon.......because there is so much Pesto to make, and so little time........until next year that is..:)
Thanks to all of you for your help on this..

There is a simple solution: PINCH BACK AND EAT.
isn't that why we grow basil? Unless you wan it as an ornament plant , then LET IT BLOOM !. It will look even better with flowers.

I have to agree with all you guys. It took time to get used to cutting back plants. I didn't realize this was necessary to help a plant max out its potential. I too am growing Thai/Cinnamon Basil for its ornamental value only. It flowers are great looking. Also growing sweet, Genovese, lemon, lime and purple basil. Can't forget about all my other friends.......sage, pinapple sage, oregano, parsley, rau rum, rosemary, sweet marjoram, thyme, several veggies and some cool flowers as well. Rambling......but fun!

If you buy quality basil plants, they will not bolt within a week.It should be at least a month. Many nurseries will sell plants that have become root-bound, and these are really useless. If you must buy plants, look for small ones that have deep green leaves with no yellowing. Gently tap the plant out of the pot to inspect the roots. If they are tightly filling all the space inside the pot, forget it. It's much better to grow from seed, as has been said here already.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick

anyone have suggestions on how to eat the seed heads when we cut them back. they taste just fine. just wondered if there were any comments out there.

Amazing that you found this topic, as it was posted so long ago!

For me, I simply dry out the basil heads and use them for seasoning stuff with a nice, fresh basil flavor (Marinara comes to mind).. One caveat though...........since there is obviously seed in the pods, you simply put the dried pods into a small wire sieveType thing and push and rotate to get condensedFlavor leaf out, and leave the seed behind.. That is the ONLY thing I use them for..........and come midWinter, a very nice reminder of summertime....:)

not sure I follow. do you use the seeds or the dried pods/leaves?. I would kind of assume that the dried leaves would crumble if you tried to separate them from the seeds. I would imagine that both are fine to use as you mention.

and for regular Basil, you can take cuttings and root in a glass of water! While the cutting is busy establishing itself, that seems to put off the going to seed for awhile. And you can just keep doing staggered cutting after cutting to keep your basil going. I have some Thai basil and I'm going to try some cuttings before I finally let it go to seed.

I have had problems with both Basil and Broccoli bolting very early. I was told years ago that Broccoli has a internal timer that is tied to day length so if I couldn't get them in the ground early spring to not plant until after summer solstice for a fall harvest. I got much better broccoli crops when I followed the advice. I have sort of followed the same advice with Basil. I will still plant a spring basil but don't stress over a early bolt as I will plant a new crop right at the same time as the summer Broccoli.