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Message: [QUOTE="Beth_B, post: 83343, member: 2144"] Well there's really no need to prune basil. But if you want it bushy with lots of tasty fresh leaves, whenever you want to use some, pinch off the tips of the tallest part of the plant. And when it gets real big (you should say where you live, because that's relevant to growing stuff) ;) then pinch off the flower spikes before they blossom. Your basil, like most plants, will direct growing energy to flowers at the expense of leaf growth. Here's a sweet basil this morning, sharing a pot with mint. Just planted two weeks ago from a starter plant. It's low and bushy which is what you want. Last night I pinched off the two tallest stalks and leaves to put in some pasta. One or two basil plants will give me fresh basil for cooking from now until Sept-Oct[ATTACH=full]13258[/ATTACH] , our typical first frost here. [/QUOTE]