Basil plant... life failure?

[winetomorrow]

I honestly thought my basic plant in the kitchen (aka the one plant I've kept alive for more than 6 months)) was thriving because flowers were blooming. Google tells me I'm an idiot. Can I save it? Google says no. I've chopped the flowers off and flooded it with water. Foolproof I think. I'm calling plant 'please be better' after my ex husband :)

You might not be able to save it, but you could propagate it in water to make new plants. It propagates in water easily. Just cut off a stem and put it in a glass of water, after about 4 weeks you will have roots. There's loads of YouTube with details.

After several less than successful experiences with basil plants I asked my mum what I was doing wrong. She said that whilst there were certain things you could do (e.g. repotting the plant from the tiny pots they always come from in supermarkets) I was onto a loser from the start as basils are annual plants - i.e. they don't come back year after year. That made me feel a bit better!

They also don't thrive in the UK in winter, because of the lack of warmth and sunlight. I've never managed to keep one alive all year round.

The flowers will produce seeds though at least

Thank you all for your replies and sorry it's taken me so long to respond, have been busy trimming the tops of the basil plant and repotting. It's still alive so far, here's hoping I saved it in time!