Will have to post photos later today. I can't figure out how to do it from the mobile app.

The fact that you grow other things successfully in these beds, and grow basil successfully in containers nearby successfully makes this mysterious. Basil is pretty sensitive to cold, and may not like cold soil. The soil in containers is warmer in early spring. Also, fusarium wilt is a common sweet basil disease that also hurts tomatoes and peppers. Maybe your raised bed is just infected with that. If so, you'll likely need professional fumigation, and you need to be very careful about not letting it spread. There are basil cultivars that are resistant to it, I believe.

Apparently, Basil doesn't like to be overwatered. I asked an "expert" why my Basil seedlings, which had been thriving, were suddenly going downhill - and that was before I even took them outside! I don't think it appreciates a ton of nutrients either......

Here are the photos....should I just pull them out and plant more string beans? Or is there a chance they will bounce back?

check the underside of the leaves for grey fuzzy sporulation. Could be basil downy mildew.

Basil is also preferred by many pests. It can be very difficult to grow sometimes.

They look ok to me!

It looks as if you have lots of seedlings all growing in a clump. Maybe that is why they are unhappy. I would dig them up and re-plant them 8" apart. Give them a couple of days to settle in, then pinch them back to make them more bushy. Should be fine.

Linda

I always have some basil rooting in a glass on my counter. I plant them here and there. Some make it, some don't, but it's so easy to root...

I don't think I was very clear, so I will try again. Each stem is an individual plant and what you have is an overcrowded clump of many Basil plants. Separate those stems into individual plants and I think you will have success.

Linda

I think if you dig them up at this point, their roots will be very tangled and a lot of root damage from separating them would unavoidable. The effect of overcrowding isn't so much wilt/spot, but just the individual plants not growing as large. I always plant two plants together, because I'm reluctant to thin seedlings more than that, and they grow fine -- as one plant would have.

I'm still a bit unclear what the problem is. I don't see any "wilt" in your photos, and maybe just a few leaves have some brown spots. Right now, I'd just be looking forward to a lot of pesto.

I agree with Labradors. They are too crowded. Lack of air circulation can provide an environment for mildew or fungus.

If the soil is nice and friable, I think I would be able to divide them, but if the roots were really tangled, just cutting some of the stems at the soil level would do the trick!

Linda

Well, if crowding is what you want to avoid, just get a knife and lop some of them off. But I really don't see any problems in those pictures that would make it worth doing so. Chop off entire plants because a few leaves look sad? Nope.

I have grown basil in heavy clumps without issue... except the basil downy mildew.

I should say that basil is often sold as seedlings in clumps. It is said that they tend to grow better that way. as they support each other. That being said, many people separate them. But if you don't, I think the right strategy is to thin as you harvest. You don't want to pick all that basil at once, do you? As you thin, the ones that are left will fill the space.

Basil doesn't like your soil? Huh? Your pictures don't show that.

It does have a lighter color than normal. My take is that the background object is blocking too much direct sunlight and you could also either use a little less water or more nitrogen. A raised bed made of cinder blocks may be slow to drain, especially if to subsoil is clay or compacted material.

I see no sign of Fusarium or Basil Downy Mildew but you are making plants vulnerable if they are in poor health.

I have the same problem, in Central NJ. I have no problem to grow basil in pots but it gets sick in-ground. So I gave up. I think it is downy mildew.

It looks like basil downy mildew to me. I got that on all my attempts at growing basil last year. The leaves start to look a little chloratic and black spots show up. Look at the photos in this Cornell website: Basil downy mildew

I'll speak to the clumping bit, since of course various herbs or plants will have different issues at different times. When they sell them together with 2-3 in a pot, that's a great time to transplant them into different pots or individual plants. So you bought one pot but got several plants.

You're also aware of making more basil plants from cuttings, so you could even think of it as 1 pot gives you unlimited plants. Part of the reason for that is you don't need to plant them all at the same time, so if you use your original 2-3 plants to make more plants throughout the growing season, you'll get an endless supply of fresh basil. If one batch got affected by mildew or bugs because of early rains or insects hatching, then maybe the plants later in the season will have better growing conditions.

Also be aware that you can snip off the tips of basil branches to create more branching, which means more leaves. So one plant can actually give quite a lot of leaves as it is growing. It also means that you could have a large plant, so as an mid or mature plant, it does need its space, too, not only for the leaves but for the roots.

I think the clumps that we're talking about here are 5-8 per pot. I've seen those regularly sold in big box stores. So disentangling them really isn't that simple. Might be smart to divide that clump into halves or thirds with a sharp knife, but pulling out individual plants just isn't worth the time.

I too vote for basil downy mildew. I too see the exact same thing happening to mine. I plant lots of varieties and it's the sweet basil that is susceptible. I just have to keep succession planting it all over the place so I can have fresh basil through the summer. Very frustrating.

So it seems that the basil in my containers failed as well. All of my basil has now been placed on the curb as yard waste. I just don't get it. Why does basil fail in my garden in both raised beds and in containers? Is it the environment?

On a related note, my parsleys are very slow to grow this season in my raised beds. Very unusual...they typically grow like weeds.

You could try another variety of basil. Genovese basil is the most susceptible to basil downy mildew and it's the variety that is most commonly grown and available as plants, even in grocery stores.

I have had this problem for the past two years. This year I am growing several other varieties of basil and they seem to be doing much better.

Cindy

I just visited a friend who has difficult growing Basil. She was told that it likes to grow in the shade! Mine is struggling a bit this year because it was overpowered by too many Cilantro seedlings that I allowed to takeover my herb garden.....

Linda