Hi tempusflits!
I'm in zone 6 and my balcony gets mid-afternoon/evening sun (faces West). It actually gets pretty hot out there in the summer!
I've had mixed results since I have been balcony gardening. I think this will be my fourth or fifth year doing it. Last year was horrible because I started out all wrong. Also everyone I knew seemed to have a poor growing season. I hope this year it is better!
Here are a few things that I have grown before and I will grow this year:
Rubin Pearl F1 cherry tomatoes
Gardener's Delight cherry tomatoes
Kelvedon Wonder peas
Fruehe Heinrich sugar peas
Golden Teepee wax beans
Goat Horn peppers
Woodland strawberries
And here are a few newcomers that I am trying out:
Red Mini bell peppers
Mexican Sour Gherkin cucumbers
Non-vegetable newcomer:
Big Smile sunflowers
Spring flowers:
Mini Daffodils
Hyacinths
I also have a variety of houseplants which go outside during the summer. A few of them off the top of my head are cacti, spiny aloe veras, a small rose bush, a big palm tree, a small palm tree, and a geranium. There are also a few new plants that my oldest daughter bought during the winter season, but I don't know the names right now.
The only thing that I think that I am going to do different this year is to make more room on my balcony for plants! All the other years my patio table took up a great deal of space and I hardly used it. So the table is going! I'm also going to weigh down the containers better this year. Last year we had a huge windstorm and all of my plants took a huge thrashing.
Happy growing! :)

Hi John, I have been growing Woodland strawberries for quite a few years now. It has got to be one of the most simple things that you can grow! It does not require much care at all as it is not picky. In fact, I have even neglected it on a few occasions and it still grew strong.
Throw some potting soil in a pot and spread your seeds. You can use just about any kind of soil. I've used vegetable soil and the cheaper flower soil. Both grew lovely! The seeds are quite small obviously, so I just try to spread them evenly. Again, it doesn't need to be exactly spaced or anything. Then I very LIGHTLY cover the seeds with soil, just a sprinkle! This prevents any wind blowing away the seeds or any birds stealing them. You can plant Woodland strawberries in almost any size container. I usually plant a few pots full - small to medium sized.
I directly sow them in their intended pots right outside during the Spring. Provide plenty of water until you have some good sprouts coming up and then you can cut back a bit on the watering. I usually only water when the soil starts to dry out a bit. If you over water, then mold can quickly develop because the leaves of the plant become quite dense providing a lot of shade.
They like full sun in Spring and Fall, but it is better to move the pots to a slightly shaded area (like behind a larger plant) during the intense heat of the Summer. The leaves can turn brown and crispy if it is too hot.
I had a very pleasant surprise this season when I decided not to abandon my Woodland strawberries last Fall. I simply left the plants outside with their mini Christmas tree buddies and I could not believe my eyes when the strawberry plants lasted the whole Winter! Of course they didn't have any strawberries on them, but the leaves stayed fresh and green. Now that the weather is warming up, the plants are returning to their full glory.
I didn't realize that they were THAT hardy, but they are. So no need to replant every year! One last tip, don't expect a HUGE harvest out of these little guys though. They are more of a fun snack plant versus a real producing crop. They are great for little kids, which is why I keep mine around. Every once in awhile you can get a good handful of small intensely flavored strawberries. You wouldn't get enough to make something out of them unless you grew a decent sized patch of them.
Good luck!

Hi lorelei, hi John,

It's nice to see this forum coming back to life. Lorelei, what an amazing list of plants. John, you've got a nice list of goodies, too, and I hope your strawberries are successful and fun for you.

Since I last posted, I've added caladiums to my list to grow this year. I'm looking forward to them. I've never grown them before.

I have casual plans to grow a hanging tomato garden, since I received one of those planters as a gift. I'm a little wary of being able to make it work, though (I don't want to worry about it drying out in the summer). Maybe cherry tomatoes are a better choice?

Well, I'm still kind of a newb when it comes to gardening so as much as I would like to grow a luscious vegetable garden on my back porch, I better start out small. I've got a lot of vine seeds ready to go, and some lettuce. I would love to grow strawberries in the summer. I just planted a bunch of flowers left over from a butterfly garden mix, so maybe I'll keep those around have a have a little bit of a "wild" balcony.

I also have this crazy idea to have a couple of sunflowers and amaranth growing against the side of the house. I know they become huge so it's not really practical for containers. Plus, I'd pretty much have to bracket them to the house so they don't topple over in the wind! But I'm tempted by the idea anyway.

Shade is hard sometimes to account for. I have a west facing balcony. I get just enough direct sun to grow roses (The explorer series) but because we are also a ground floor balcony the local bunny population took care of those this winter. For the almost full shade area I also plant in (shhhhhhhhh dont tell) I have put in Glads and they do great. Also Impatients do AMAZING in the shade, plant them with some bonemeal in the soil and they get HUGE. Good luck. Oh also Hostas, love them!