Not enough sunshine? Too cold? Not enough drainage? Those are the problems my basil has had in the past.
I’ll bet it’s drainage.
You know what’s cool? Being experienced enough at gardening to be able to recognize the herbs from a candid photo.
The point being that two years ago I knew jack about plants unless they were smokable.
Are there little bugs on the underside of the leaves? If so you can wipe them off with a damp paper towel. Actually I wonder if you moved the basil from inside to the sunny driveway too abruptly and it was scorched by the sun.
The limp leaves and brown spots on the leaves lead me to believe that it is overwatered. Check the drainage on that pot.
Hey, look! It’s Tiny Cat Plants! (Had to be said…)
I think two things are probably going on at once:
Overwater/drainage/soil compaction. If you don’t want to repot to fix drainage, you might try working some of those water-absorbing time-release crystals into the soil as a quick fix since it’s hard to waterlog with those in the soil. Not everyone likes them, but I used them because I know my erratic habits about killing plants with too much care and then getting too busy to think about them. The crystals help me counteract my own bad habits while providing a little spacing in the soil.
Chill. Basil likes hot weather. As I understand it, TN has been kind of cold this week. Leaves on early basil often brown out or spot when they get chilled. It probably got a little too cold at some point. Your impulse to put it in the sun was a good one, but don’t do it if the weather is under 50 degrees. When you put it out on warm days, make sure to bring it in and move it away from windows at night until the night temps are staying above 50 degrees. The brown leaves will fall off on their own as new green foliage comes on.
I love the lush, healthy growth in the other plants. Yay for you!
What is wrong with your basil: it is outside. Basil is delicate. It has to be inside until the highs are reliably in the 60s. And then you take a week to temper it: put it outside during the day, in semi-shade, and bring it in at night. Then you can leave it outside permanently.
Also the overwatering that people have mentioned might be a factor. Did you put pebbles or something at the bottom of the pot, so that it can drain right? Or it might be in a pot that’s too small for it. But it’s hard for me to figure that part out from a picture.
I’m sort of with Rachel here.
Having the cat lie on your basil might not have helped it.
But I have a black thumb so I have nothing else to offer.
Well, although the cat using it as a bed was probably not helpful, it’s not what is causing the black limp leaves. I want to say it’s an overwatered thing but I’ve grown basil hydroponically before. I think that nm is right, basil is delicate. I’ve found it hates to be moved (kind of like ficus trees).
I think overwatering might be the problem. Not that I’ve been watering it but we’ve gotten so much rain and it’s been cool, I don’t think it’s had time to dry out as much as it might like.
Can I just say how much I love being able to get such awesome advice just by posting pictures? I am a lucky girl.
You did get some excellent advice. I’ll have to try that. Does this look infected to you?
Smiley, depending on what you did in New Orleans, those could be some fun pictures…
I have seriously had more than one person send me pictures of various wounds to ask if they were infected.
Those make for some mighty odd emails, I tell you. Especially since I think I’m pretty clear on the fact that I have never been to medical school.
Tiny Cat Pants 
Could it be the cat?
Not enough sunshine? Too cold? Not enough drainage? Those are the problems my basil has had in the past.
I’ll bet it’s drainage.
You know what’s cool? Being experienced enough at gardening to be able to recognize the herbs from a candid photo.
The point being that two years ago I knew jack about plants unless they were smokable.
Are there little bugs on the underside of the leaves? If so you can wipe them off with a damp paper towel. Actually I wonder if you moved the basil from inside to the sunny driveway too abruptly and it was scorched by the sun.
The limp leaves and brown spots on the leaves lead me to believe that it is overwatered. Check the drainage on that pot.
Hey, look! It’s Tiny Cat Plants! (Had to be said…)
I think two things are probably going on at once:
Overwater/drainage/soil compaction. If you don’t want to repot to fix drainage, you might try working some of those water-absorbing time-release crystals into the soil as a quick fix since it’s hard to waterlog with those in the soil. Not everyone likes them, but I used them because I know my erratic habits about killing plants with too much care and then getting too busy to think about them. The crystals help me counteract my own bad habits while providing a little spacing in the soil.
Chill. Basil likes hot weather. As I understand it, TN has been kind of cold this week. Leaves on early basil often brown out or spot when they get chilled. It probably got a little too cold at some point. Your impulse to put it in the sun was a good one, but don’t do it if the weather is under 50 degrees. When you put it out on warm days, make sure to bring it in and move it away from windows at night until the night temps are staying above 50 degrees. The brown leaves will fall off on their own as new green foliage comes on.
I love the lush, healthy growth in the other plants. Yay for you!
What is wrong with your basil: it is outside. Basil is delicate. It has to be inside until the highs are reliably in the 60s. And then you take a week to temper it: put it outside during the day, in semi-shade, and bring it in at night. Then you can leave it outside permanently.
Also the overwatering that people have mentioned might be a factor. Did you put pebbles or something at the bottom of the pot, so that it can drain right? Or it might be in a pot that’s too small for it. But it’s hard for me to figure that part out from a picture.
I’m sort of with Rachel here.
Having the cat lie on your basil might not have helped it.
But I have a black thumb so I have nothing else to offer.
Well, although the cat using it as a bed was probably not helpful, it’s not what is causing the black limp leaves. I want to say it’s an overwatered thing but I’ve grown basil hydroponically before. I think that nm is right, basil is delicate. I’ve found it hates to be moved (kind of like ficus trees).
I think overwatering might be the problem. Not that I’ve been watering it but we’ve gotten so much rain and it’s been cool, I don’t think it’s had time to dry out as much as it might like.
Can I just say how much I love being able to get such awesome advice just by posting pictures? I am a lucky girl.
You did get some excellent advice. I’ll have to try that. Does this look infected to you?
Smiley, depending on what you did in New Orleans, those could be some fun pictures…
I have seriously had more than one person send me pictures of various wounds to ask if they were infected.
Those make for some mighty odd emails, I tell you. Especially since I think I’m pretty clear on the fact that I have never been to medical school.