You're right, I should have dug up a dead plant. So I just went outside to do that, and the two that were "dead" yesterday look MUCH better. Not great, but not nearly as bad as they were. Perhaps it was lack of water, and these few plants were affected when the others weren't? We got about 1/2" of rain Saturday. Anyway, here is the "better": I will check on them this afternoon and see if they are melting in the sun, but it's nice and cool and moist under 6" of mulch. I dug up one that died about a week ago of the same thing. Him I did try to revive with water, with no luck. I pulled him up and didn't get any roots at all, but he was very dead. The stem was hollow and there were plenty of ants around, but given how long he's been dead, I don't think the ants were the culprit. I dug around in the soil and saw no sign of pill bugs or any bugs other than the ants. I am loathe to pull up a plant that isn't dead because I have so few left. Cats, it seems, like to eat artichoke seedlings. If I start them from seed again, I'll keep them inside until they are 6-8" tall and not tasty anymore.

Wayne - I went out and checked the bad vine, but there was no discoloration of the stem tissue, as I think Fusarium is supposed to cause. The good thing would be that the Charentais are resistant to F wilt. Of course, this variety of Galia is supposed to be, too. Bad thing would be, nothing to do about it now. Charentais still looking good. Rest of Galias holding on. [I only grow the Galias to have melons before the Charentais are ripe.]

Thanks everybody for the feedback. carolb_w_fl I saw that mildew photo and my leaves aren't fuzzy, just dying on those brown spotted areas. I also haven't been spraying anything - and no changes to the soil or how I water them. coorscat, I was thinking it might be something like that. It's affecting most of my plant (the genovese one, though not as bad on the other basil types) so if I pick off the bad leaves I'll lose all the leaves. I may try to cut it all the way back to see if it will make a comeback though. I did a little more research and it looks like it might but fusarium wilt or late blight, both of which are a bummer. Anyway, if anybody has any more ideas of how to treat it/avoid it, I'll take suggestions!

Thanks for responding (: I also think the cold and rain might have done it. I might try fertilizing a little if it doesn't perk up soon... Right now its looking pretty sad (worse than the pictures above). I haven't found anymore black leaves, but the plant is a little limp and the leaves are still curled down..... I ordered another plant for backup. It's probably too late, but I'm a risk taker.