Is Basil deer resistant?

Pinch the flower spikes out as they form or the leaves turn bitter within days. Truly frost tender, so it goes out only once nights are reliably above 50F.

Do deer eat basil?

Sometimes. Rutgers rates basil Seldom Severely Damaged, B, and Iowa State's list puts it in the same second tier with dill and parsley rather than the top tier where mint, oregano and thyme sit. NC State lists deer and rabbits among the challenges Ocimum basilicum resists. The scent is the defense and it is a weaker one than the perennial herbs carry: basil is soft and watery and grown as a bedding plant, and a row of young transplants in June is the kind of thing a deer tests. The damage most often blamed on deer is not theirs. Japanese beetles and slugs, both on NC State's problem list for basil, take the leaves in the same season, and neither leaves the ragged tear a deer does.

Where it grows

A tender annual, hardy only in zones 10a and 10b on NC State's range and planted out everywhere else after the last frost. Full sun, though NC State allows partial shade; 4 inches to 3 feet by variety; flowers in summer, which is the signal to pinch.

Protecting basil

Where it is being nibbled, the 20 percent egg spray Colorado State rates High is the wrong tool on a leaf eaten raw. A floating row cover or a ring of wire does the job on a plant this small, and a pot on a step is the simplest answer of all.

If it is browsed

Basil branches from every node below a cut, which is what pinching does on purpose, so a browsed plant regrows the same way a pinched one does. What it loses is time. A plant eaten in late August is not worth waiting on; sow again indoors or let it go.