All a basil plant needs is sun,water, and a bit of pruning.Basil comes in more than 150 varietiesfrom sweet to spicy, and it can be foundin shades like dark green and deep purple.Plant it outside after the lastspring frost in your area.A good rule of thumb is to space seedlingsabout one foot apart in the garden bed.Use a rich organic soil and add compostrather than purchased topsoil.When tiny flowers begin to grow on your basilplants, or your plants reach more than sixinches in height, it's time to start pruning.Stay on top of removing the flowers andcut—don’t pull— enough of the stem toleave only two to four leaves on the plant.To harvest basil, cut the stems down asfar as you need to get enough leaves