How to Transplant Leggy Basil

Determine your garden location for planting your basil in-ground or in a container. Monitor the area every hour during a sunny day to make sure it receives at least six hours of direct sunlight each day. The full sun will strengthen the leggy basil and enhance the flavors.

Loosen the soil with a hand trowel or shovel to 6 inches deep. Spread an equal mix of compost and peat moss over the bed or container to 2 inches deep over the soil. Mix the compost in with the upper layers of the soil.

Transplant the basil on a cloudy day after all danger of frost has passed for your area. Dig a hole equal in size to the pot the leggy seedling is in. Wet the soil around the seedling, lift the roots from the pot and set the basil into the hole at an equal depth to how it grew before. Space the plants about one foot apart if planting more than one.

Trim the tips from the leggy basil with herb scissors by cutting the stem horizontally just above the second set of leaves up from the ground. Clipping the tips will encourage the plant to use its growth energy on thickening the base of the stems and producing branches and more compact growth above the cut surface.

Water the soil well to moisten it thoroughly around your new transplant. Water the soil two to three times a week going forward to give the basil 1 inch of water each week without letting the soil dry out completely between watering.

Allow the basil to recover from transplanting and trimming for four weeks as you continue to water it. Repeat trimming the tips from the plant once the new growth branches have more than two sets of leaves on them, clipping the branches just above the two new sets of leaves.