[Tilted Irish Kilt]

greeneyes:" (My basil )..A couple of weeks ago, I got carried away and cut it back so severely, I thought it might be done for.
It is loaded with little green buds all along the stems which are now as big around as my fingers.

Herbacious plants can be safely pruned by removing about 1/3 of the foliage .
If you were to prune 50% of the foliage or more , the plant goes through "shock" , and is 'set back' a bit .
Wherever you prune close to a leave or stem , it will double the leaf or stem production .
Once my sweet basil goes into flowering and into seed production, it is extremely difficult to prevent it continueing.

[greeneyes]

Well I pruned off way more than 50%. It was the last whack that did it. I got distracted and missed the target and lopped off a bunch more than I had anticipated. LOL