Is this Basil?????

[Dave & Kate N Wales]

Help!!! please,
last year i sowed some sweet genovese basil seeds in a pot and grew it outdoors but it got attacked by snails and slugs just as it was getting to a useable size. Anyway we left said pot overwinter and it showdsigns of life so once the leaves started growing again hubby planted it in garden and i started some more of the same variety but new this years packet (both were bought in multipacks of seeds from the same place) and until now didn't realise they were the same variety as didn't label last years but have now found last years packet and the plants are nothing like each other. Last years has no smell even when i took a leaf off yesterday and ripped it up it just smells like a leaf!!! I have taken some pics ths morning as no idea what it is that we are growing and whether we should dig it up Any ideas????
Thanks Katie

[zazen999]

Images are too small to see....

[ginger ninger]

I'm the same as Zaz, there far too small to tell...Photo's that is. Could you try to resize them/make them bigger?

[Dave & Kate N Wales]

sorry just realised they are too small trying again

[zazen999]

no - definitely not basil.

[Alison]

Agree, it's definitely not basil but not really sure what it is.

[Two_Sheds]

nothing like basil.

bay maybe?

[Nicos]

My guess is bay- does it smell like bay when you rub the leaves????

[Flummery]

Basil won't overwinter outdoors here.

[Dave & Kate N Wales]

Don't think it's Bay as theres no smell at all except plain leaf smell if that makes sense and i seem to remember the bay we used to have had glossy leaves whereas these are dry/matt kind of leaves. Really odd the way it die back to just a brown stem over winter then regrew and is quite huge now. Think we'll have to dig it up as we don't know what it is and could use the space for something we can eat - shame though as it's not a bad looking bush, will give it til tomorrow incase anyone comes up with anything else

[Flummery]

Hard to tell from the picture but it doesn't look glossy enough for bay. It could be willow. The seeds are spread in a sort of airborne fluff and can travel quite some distance.

[Dave & Kate N Wales]

I think the seeds must have been wrong in the packet as it was grown in a fairly small pot then planted out after the winter, i may get hubby to replant it out the front as i'm intrigued as to what it might be. I suppose that's what we get for buying cheap seeds

[ohbeary]

I think you have Basil, it does not like to interfered with, in India it is a perrenial, related to mint, it enjoys moist conditions with a little shade, outdoor basil produces smaller leaves, sweet basil is best grown under cover with plenty of water during the day but not at night.