Nice article. I've got a few things I would add that I experienced. One: regarding too much heat. Oh boy I hear you on that - I had full west exposure on an old brick building and it got toasty! Generally my strategy was to have a couple of tall pots with very tough plants in them and then nestle smaller things into their (still bright) shade to help keep them cooler. And I've never had such happy hot peppers as when I was balcony growing! If you like hot peppers, do give them a try on your balcony. Two: what goes up must come down. Frost, high winds, building inspections, moving, construction in the balcony above yours that sends down dust and debris - your life will be easier if you set up your pots in such a way that everything can come inside relatively quickly. Three: get yourself a nice HEAVY watering can if you can find one. To keep my plastic one from blowing around I had to put big chunk of brick in it when I was done watering and wedge it behind the pots. This was frugal but annoying. I should have just gotten a heavier watering can. Four: don't forget scent! If you don't have a lot of space for blooms you can still pack a lot of different scents into your space. I found the different scented thymes, lemon verbena, rose scented geraniums, and mint to be well suited to baking heat and small space. Five: where there's a will there's a way. If you want a grapevine, you can have a grapevine! Trellising designed to be sunk into the ground can be planted in pots - you just need one or two anchor points at the top, or lacking that, a little quick set concrete and the sacrifice of a few garden pots to the cause to make the base extra stable. Have fun!!
Nice article. I've got a few things I would add that I experienced. One: regarding too much heat. Oh boy I hear you on that - I had full west exposure on an old brick building and it got toasty! Generally my strategy was to have a couple of tall pots with very tough plants in them and then nestle smaller things into their (still bright) shade to help keep them cooler. And I've never had such happy hot peppers as when I was balcony growing! If you like hot peppers, do give them a try on your balcony. Two: what goes up must come down. Frost, high winds, building inspections, moving, construction in the balcony above yours that sends down dust and debris - your life will be easier if you set up your pots in such a way that everything can come inside relatively quickly. Three: get yourself a nice HEAVY watering can if you can find one. To keep my plastic one from blowing around I had to put big chunk of brick in it when I was done watering and wedge it behind the pots. This was frugal but annoying. I should have just gotten a heavier watering can. Four: don't forget scent! If you don't have a lot of space for blooms you can still pack a lot of different scents into your space. I found the different scented thymes, lemon verbena, rose scented geraniums, and mint to be well suited to baking heat and small space. Five: where there's a will there's a way. If you want a grapevine, you can have a grapevine! Trellising designed to be sunk into the ground can be planted in pots - you just need one or two anchor points at the top, or lacking that, a little quick set concrete and the sacrifice of a few garden pots to the cause to make the base extra stable. Have fun!!