...In a way you can! I'll try to kept it as simple as possible (not an easy task being a plant biologist myself!), but I can tell you that with a small trick you can have fresh basil all over the year ( NO growth hormones needed )!!! Couple of months ago I posted pics of my balcony-based garden with my beloved sweet basil (I'm not overdoing with compliments, the variety of basil I love most is the sweet basil indeed). All plants grew, survived my absence during holidays (they have experienced a pretty prolonged drought this year) and set new leaves and incredibly tiny fruits (tomatoes and strawberries)... Expectedly, but still unfortunately, after a while (also because they are confined in relatively small pots, with poor or no fertilization) they started senescing (ageing). I know my basil will not live forever in such a pot and very likely it won't survive the cold winter outside.... but I have no space to bring it inside given its current size!!! Here ...