Unlike mint, Basil grows best in full sun. Why dont you find a sunny spot for it? Probably getting plant would be more suitable for you. Plant them about a foot apart and try planting basil seeds between them. This way your childeren will see how a plant grows from seed. With your basil, let it grow about10 inches then cut from top of each branch roughly 3-4 inches, just about a quarter of inch above where two leaves are accross each other. In a few days two branche will grow above each of those leaves. Again, let those branches grow about 10 inches and repeat the process. Given you have a good growing condition, your basil will have many branches. You dont just pick the leave off of basil. If the seeds that you planted germinate, you have to thin them. lets say only have one or two of them between your previously planted basils. The seed package should give you some guideline. But try to find a sunny spot. Probably cilantro grow better where you have described. I see you are in zone 5. Probably you will have to wait til the end of May?? or after mothers day??to plant basil. You have to know when in your area the danger of frost is over. Basil will not grow if it is cold and a light freez can kill it. But you can plant cilantro , both plant and seeds in your garden, RIGHT NOW, TOMORROW.

I don't think I can answer all your questions. I'm in NH and since we are in a low lying area, we seem to always get a light frost around 9/18. I have a high tunnel and my best tomato and pepper plants are in there. (Didn't realize this was going to be a benefit in summer.) With protection (additional row cover and blankets), they survived that light frost. Last week was summer again and although we got some rain this week, it didn't penetrate much. I see dry dirt in my vegetable beds under a thin layer of moist soil. Last year I have a note that by Oct 26, the flavor of tomatoes was diminished and it was time to let them go. I don't think the ground freezes until much later in the year. I will get my garlic planted before the end of October. I do not expect it to sprout. I would plant bulbs now. I bought 4 shrubs last week at a nursery season closing sale. I think I'm going to put them in a trench until next spring. The new shrub bed hasn't been readied yet. I have a terrible problem with a creeping jenny weed that gets into the vegetable beds if not kept weeded. This means the squash bed is a mass of that weed. That needs to be covered with black plastic. The potatoes were dug last week but I want to save the straw for use in the high tunnel. I'll put grass clippings on the bed. I have a square vegetable bed which essential is two rows plus a path so I plan to dump some kitchen scraps that have been accumulating in a 5 gallon bucket on that bed. I am also increasing the side of some beds by doing some lasagna type layering. Next spring will top those areas with composted horse manure. Need to weed and dig out some overgrown perennials from one bed (or do it in early spring). My circle bed finally got bordered by pavers so I need to finish straigtening out that bed. I have some perennials that need to be planted. I have some tall garden phlox in that bed and they like to take over. I might have the whole bunch dug out and plant the phlox elsewhere where they can spread. Need to think more on this.

Dorothy already mentioned planting in blocks, which is probably the thing many new gardeners most often fail to do. It has to be in blocks to ensure your ears are filled with tasty kernels. When I see a single row of corn running down the side of a garden, it makes me sad to think of what poor ears they'll get with a planting like that. Corn is wind-pollinated, so you plant in a block so every ear can get pollen from the plants around it. Plant it as soon as possible so your ears have time to mature before the first freeze of autumn. So, for this planting, you'll be restricted to whatever seed you can find on the seed racks since it already is past the recommended planting date of 7/15, and you don't have time to order seed and wait for it to arrive. Pretty much any variety of corn will grow here, so it really is all about selecting a variety that will have the flavor you like. Older varieties tend to have more of a true corn flavor whereas newer varieties have been bred for more sweetness. You can choose whichever appeals to you. For fall corn, you're always just crossing your fingers and hoping this isn't the autumn that comes with an extra early first frost or freeze so that the corn will have time to mature. We tend to grow both the supersweet and triplesweet types and they're all good. We also grow the older varieties that have more of a corn flavor and less of a sugary-sweet flavor. The older varieties we like include Country Gentleman/Shoepeg corn, Texas Honey June, Silver Queen and Merit. We like the Kandy Korn that Dorothy mentioned, and one called "How Sweet it Is" is really outstanding. In the spring, I often plant one called Early Sunglow because it has a really short DTM. The plants are small and the ears are small compared to corn varieties that take 3 weeks or more longer to mature, but I like that we can harvest Early Sunglow before Memorial Day from a late March planting. You can make life more interesting by planting Ruby Queen, which has red kernels, or Jade Blue which matures from green to blue. Your main corn pest will be corn earworms, but they might not find you the first year you grow corn, especially if you don't have any other home gardeners or farms really close to your place. I'm going to link an OSU fact sheet that lists vegetable varieties recommended for Oklahoma, but there's tons of great varieties that aren't on that list, so don't be afraid to pick up a pack of seeds at a nursery or garden center. In July you cannot be too picky because seeds often are mostly sold out and picked over. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: OSU Recommended Vegetable Varieties

I'm new to grow lights as well, but I had to get something as I have many seedlings that are in their first year and not supposed to go dormant. I ended up getting a T5 fixture, 4 lights, 4 feet long. It was $98 including shipping on ebay. (That's for shipping in the US, I don't know about other locations)From what I read the T5's are the newest type of tube grow light, supposedly more efficient and better than it's predecessors the T8 and T12. These are also supposed to stay cooler than many of the other types of lights, not as expensive as the LED's, and the wattage is higher than what Home Depot and the box stores sell and also beat their prices too. For my budget this seemed like a great option. You can get vegetative or bloom lights, for me I got vegetative. My boyfriend saw the size of this thing and thought I paid $300 or $400!!! LOL!!! Thank goodness I got to tell him it was nowhere near that!