Your basil looks pretty bushy, so I'd say it's getting enough light, but it is very yellow, which indicates not enough nitrogen. You need to give those plants some fertilizer. Composted manure does not provide sufficient nitrogen for most crops. Also, the nitrogen that is in composted manure is not immediately available to plants. It is broken down by microorganisms into a form usable by plants, but it takes a while. I don't know for sure about Cow Wow, but it looks like it is just liquid manure. Manure is great for soil structures and provides organics, but it is not a complete fertilizer.

The woody stems are natural. Basil always does that. And the new growth looks perfectly healthy. You have rather a lot of plants in the container and I think one problem is too many plants for the volume of mix. Also the container isn't filled to the top so has even less in it. Then there's the question of how old the plants are. If they are woody, presumably they have been there a while. Basil is an annual and will not keep going indefinitely. If these were mine I'd just harvest them until they peter out. Meanwhile sow some more.

I grow basil indoors and have some fresh basil available year round for cooking. It's not the easiest to grow indoors, especially in the winter. For growing media/"potting mix", you can refer to the link(s) above and mix your own container mix. I've also had reasonably good luck for herbs (rosemary, sage, basil, cilantro and parsley) in either "Bonsai mix" or "Cactus, Palm and Citrus" mix. Sometimes, if the mix seems to retain too much water, I'll add some perlite to the mix to enhance drainage. I use clay (terracotta) pots with saucers. I don't put anything in the bottom of the pots for drainage. I actually use a single paper coffee filter to keep the mix from falling out the drainage hole. I fill the saucer with marbles (or stones) to keep the pot from sitting in any water that drains from the pot at watering time. The water won't wick up the marbles or stones and back into the pot, it will just sit and evaporate from the saucer. Temperature needs to be warm. My hanging planters are in the kitchen, not far from the wood stove which is supplemental (often primary) heating for the kitchen and bedroom "apartment" part of our home. Heat usually isn't an issue. It's 75F or warmer most of the time, with occasional nightly dips to the mid 60's. Light is also critical. In my kitchen, lighting generally is extremely bright. I've got a 4 tube fixture with T8 bulbs in it for general lighting. I mix 2 "Warm white" (2700K), 1 "cool white" (4100K) and 1 "daylight" (6500K). The kitchen was bright enough with just a two tube fixture, so it's very bright, even a bit harsh with that lighting. But that's not enough for "full sun" plants. It's not even close. Beyond that, there's a light fixture with an LED "spot" light built into my hanging planter. Those lights are fairly intense and look quite harsh. For basil and other leafy herbs, use an LED "aquarium" bulb with blue (~460nm) and white (15000K) LED's. Most "blurple" LED grow lights are heavy on the red end of the spectrum to promote blooming. That's probably desirable for "medicinal flowers," but that's not really what you want for culinary herbs. If I hang my planter/light setup in a sunny window with the light off, and put my hand where the shadow is in the pot, when I turn on the light, the shadow basically disappears completely. That's how bright your lighting needs to be for basil (or other "full sun" herbs) to thrive. Look for a bulb with a 30° beam angle (or tighter), and place it where the bright part of the beam fills the pot, but very little light goes beyond the edge of the pot. Usually, that position is a bit less than twice the diameter of the pot above the surface of the potting mix. Yellowing and dropping leaves indicates either too much water or insufficient light (or both).

cindy_7 I wouldn't count on me being right about any of this! Though in my defence it would appear that basil can taste a bit minty, according to what I read. That said, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if my minty is another person's turkey! Also the tag that came with the pot said mint and spearmint, after tasting one of them I didn't question what the tag said. : / Here's some pics of the dethroned (remove from pot) mint/basil, it doesn't look too healthy and these photos were taken after I removed a good number of dead leaves. The sage and thyme look great though, aside from some minor yellowing. I've had to pot them together, as I don't have enough space otherwise. And the mint/basil I have carefully laid aside, after moistening the roots and having a good look at it. I'll be honest, I doesn't look long with this world! I'll place it in a pot on it's own this evening (UK time) and hope for the best for it. floral_uk You're like a human almanac for the UK plant-life and all it's need-to-knows! How's your kid's tomato plant hanging in? The weather this end has been cloudy and very cool in the morning then very hot and dry for the remainder of the day. That must have an impact of the taste of them, I would think? Hope they're doing well. :) Oh, and yes to the Kale. I'll be growing it to cut and come again purposes only.