I feel your pain! I don't have wood slats though. I used to have a woman who would scream bloody murder when me or anyone above me over watered. Rude obscenities. She also reported me to our condo association. Once when sitting quietly outside reading, the person above me overwatered and it dripped directly on me so I politely called up. I got as far as "excuse me to the person above watering..." when the rude lady below me starting yelling threats to call the condo association. When she was done I responded that there was no need to be so rude. She shut up and has since moved. That said, I had old towels lined up by the edge of my balcony and was very careful watering. Plus I watered early in the morning and during the day when I was able to work from home...aka anytime when the nasty lady wasn't out. Have you tried self watering tools? Most decent garden centers have them and Gardeners.com has an assortment--kinds that water when you're on vacation to smaller daily ones. They'll slow release so should help.

Welcome! Ahh.... Time to fill up someone else's balcony... heh heh heh How big is your balcony? With respect to having a couple of those named plants per container, how big a container are you using? I am trying spaghetti squash this year and have 4 in a 14-gallon Rubbermaid tote. I have some 6ft plastic bamboo stakes that I'm going to try to cobble together to make a teepee for them and will probably attempt to put some netting around that for them to climb on. Here they were this morning: It has been abnormally cool up here and I had them out in May but had them covered with a plastic milk jug, which was ridiculous. Never had to do that here ever since I moved here 11 years ago. :\ We're finally getting some nice heat coming up this week so hopefully they will take off. I've usually seen them sell squash and cukes with a couple seeds per market pack cell and people will often plant the whole thing and snip off the weakest or do like me and try to grow them all... LOL Mine were actually from seed I started 1 per cell. It might be trickier to leave them if they are bush types as they might crowd each other if the container is small. I have grown cukes in a 2ft long trough container with about 4 - 6 plants per that size as they vine out of the container and attach to whatever was nearby. Most of your plants are sun lovers (although the mint is more a part sun plant and may want more water than the rest). You location will probably get hot so consider ways to maintain moisture for the plants or they may fry. I expect the impatiens will definitely fry if not moved to a shadey spot out there unless they are New Guineas which can take more sun. Anyway, welcome to the balcony forum! I just got my first hummer of the season 18 stories up in the sky about 1 1/2 hours ago (and had the first ever that I had actually seen up here, last August). I have a bunch of hummer plants out there this year now.... heh heh

I can't speak to pumpkins, but cucumbers will grow pretty much themselves. As they get long enough simply work them in and out of the holes in the trellis. They develop these little gripper things that wind around stuff to hold them in place. From time to time I have had to re-route some (they are quite insidious) back from other areas. They are very tolerant of this. I would follow the packet guidelines for the cucumbers for trellising. I think I have mine about every 6" along the bottom of the trellis.

Hi Allison, welcome to the forum! I'm in Orlando too. I grow lots of container plants in my screened patio. The good news about the screen is that it cuts out a bit of the light, even if you don't notice it. This helps some plants that would be sensitive to direct sunlight survive better inside the screen. The bad news is that you may not have the insects (is that good news or bad news?) to pollinate the flowers on your veggies. Herbs can do very well in a screened area. You can use one of those strawberry pots with lots of little openings to plant several varieties or use a few larger containers. Try planting 3 herbs in one larger container instead of 3 small containers. It will be easier to keep them watered (smaller pots dry out faster) and in Florida you'll probably have to water every day, at least until the rains start. Try some coleus in a few pots too. The leaves are beautiful and will be pretty all summer long. If you have a shady corner, or close up against the house where it will get less sun, try a pot of impatiens. If you want to do veggies, peppers and eggplant may be an easier way to start than tomatoes. You can do the tomatoes this fall once it cools down a little and you have more experience with this growing spot. It can take a while to figure out how much heat, light, rain, etc an area gets and what will do well there. If you won't be able to water every day because of busy schedules or travel, consider cactus and succulents. They can dry out completely between waterings. Kate