Well, basil is definitely a warm/hot season plant. If temps (even at night) drop below 50F or so it will struggle and not grow at all in those temps. If the air temps are in range, the soil temps may still be much cooler.

So, first thing I would look at would be air and soil temps, it might just be that you need to wait a week or two longer to put the basil outside than the rest of your herbs.

Do you fertilize your herb bed at all? Add compost or other organic matter from time to time? Herbs seem to have a reputation for not needing much fertility, but that's really only true of some. Basil, on balance, doesn't need a lot of nutrients, but it tends to do best with more than most other herbs. A fish emulsion is a nice, gentle, organic fertilizer that your basil should love. If you don't have that or don't really care about organic/synthetic sources of nutrients then a weak dilution of Miracle Grow (let's say 1/2 strength) should work fine too.

I would first consider air/soil temps though.

i second justaguy on the heat issue. i've lost a lot of basil by being to anxious to get it in the garden.

Hi karen_pgh,

Try direct seeding the basil. I have great luck every year planting basil seed in the garden after all chance of a frost has passed.

I have found that Basil is a really heavy feeder for an herb- and justaguy2 is right- Basil LOVES Fish emulsion. I spray my Basil plants with a fish emulsion mixture every week until they are established, then every 10 days.

...But, I also think your problem is climate. When it's too cold for Basil to grow it won't (I used to live in Minnesota so I know all of the "too cold' scenarios- believe me, I've killed or retarded just about every plant once :) Basil likes the nights to be over 60 degrees, preferably over 65, otherwise it simply stops growing. It will freeze in size and if it doesn't warm up in a few weeks the leaves will mottle and all further growth will be slow.

This is what I did in the Midwest: I would transfer my seedlings to 8-12" pots (3-4 little in each). I set them outside as soon as it got warm out in the spring. That way when they started acting too cold I brought them into my garage for the nights and set them back out when it got warmer. They grow into bushes together in the pots- especially if you use Fish Emulsion. When I finally planted them in the garden they were really healthy, full, bushes that- if you cut them back when they start to flower- they'll last through a midwestern summer.

Thanks for all of the responses, I'll do as you suggest. I plan on holding the peppers back a couple of weeks this year so I'll do the same with the basil. We are having a run of cold weather right now.