This year's heat was ideal for basil. If yours didn't grow well, it might have been insufficient sunlight (basil needs full sun at least 6 and preferably 10 or more hours a day), inadequate or shallow watering, or soil that wasn't worked deeply or amended with compost. I find that about a half cup of bone meal and a tablespoon of greensand per plant help the flavor as well; on the other hand, heavy-nitrogen fertilizers compromise taste.

As far as thinning goes, wait until a branch has three pairs of leaves, then cut just above the bottom leaf node on the branch. You'll get two new branches from the node; continue in the same way with those branches. The idea is to harvest entire small branches before they get mature enough to flower. When the branches are putting out buds faster than you can keep up with pruning them, pull the plant. Rather than starting all 35 plants at once, start 5 at a time, a week apart, over 7 weeks. Then you'll have a steady supply of young plants throughout the summer. You can also direct-sow the seeds in garden soil once the weather warms up, and continue succession sowing a while longer. Thin or transplant to 12" apart; 8" is a little close.

Lots of great advice. thank you. Maybe that's why I get so many flower heads, we just go out and pick leaf by leaf for pesto. By the end of summer most of the remaining leaves aren't high quality. Though surprisingly last week's pesto was quite good. Do you agree that the best leaves are darker green, more rounded, and slightly curled backwards?

My plants got plenty of sun, but we did have a longish dry spell there. Good to know about the greensand. Maybe i'll apply some this fall to the bed where the basil will be next year.