What is the best way to grow basil from seeds?

See if this answers your question. Good luck!

Perhaps you were harvesting too much at a time. I always take off separate leaves and not all from the same branch. I have never had one die when I took leaves off. I use at least a ten inch pot and let it grow to a pretty good size before I start taking off leaves. If you use them a lot, perhaps succession planting would work better for you. You plant a few seeds in the same pot, a large pot will hold a few plants without a problem, once they have germinated and are growing well, plant another pot, by the time your first plant is ready to start taking leaves, the next will be growing and can be ready by the time you are done with the first one, and so on. I had about three plants in my pot last summer and it ended up about two and a half feet high by the time I had to harvest all the leaves I could before the frost killed it. I harvested some each week and never hurt the plant, it regrew where I took the mature leaves. I never took a branch unless there was a problem with it, and that happened years ago. Use a good potting soil in your pot, plant more seeds than you want plants and choose the sturdiest ones that aren't too close together and pull the rest. Make sure you keep them watered and fertilized and provide the light they need, mine didn't like too much afternoon sun if it was real hot out. Good luck!

Oh my! That is not supposed to happen. What method did you use to harvest?

Here is a great link for starting from seed.

My basil sets kept burning up outside. In the grocery store, about 1 3/4 oz. of basil is often over $3. I just kept buying new basil plants for $3 at Walmart. I would get about 4weeks of basil from each plant on my kitchen window. Cheaper than the the little packs and lived longer than outdoors. I have seeds for this year. I’ll see what happens. ☺️