Cadence - Lucky you having a south/east baconly location. I am in the Okanagan, B.C. I am on a third floor condo too, but I face north east - which is alot more shady and leaves little choices but for shady plants. The first plant I thought of was the Honeysuckle They are valued for their pretty flowers, which are sweetly scented, and their decorative fruits, which birds find delectable. The climbing Honeysuckles are suitable for growing over a trellis, arch, or pergola, while the shrubby kind are great for growing in borders and rock gardens, and as hedges. Their trumpet-shaped flowers are borne from late winter or early spring to late summer and range in color from cream and light yellow to vivid scarlet and purplish-rose. They are followed by pretty fruits that may be white, yellow, orange, red, blue, and black. POTTING: These plants will live in almost any soil, though they prefer a moist loam enriched with organic matter. They will benefit from being mulched, except with manure, which promotes the growth of foliage at the expense of the flowers. Their roots should be in shade and most prefer part or even full shade, although some flower best with their heads in full sun. This should be perfect on your balcany if you can have the root base protected from the sun. The stems of young plants should be shortened to encourage early branching and produce a full, bushy plant. Once this is achieved, pruning should only be done to keep the plants in bounds and to thin them out once there is a lot of old wood. This pruning should be done right after flowering; Honeysuckles that flower in late summer should be pruned in early spring. Shrubby Honeysuckles should have their old flowering shoots thinned out and cut back to within a few inches of the old wood right after flowering. Another little [annual] plant I thought of for filling bare spots in containers and also for their fabulous scent is alyssum. The tiny white flower variety seems more hardy than the maulve/purple/blue - just my humble opinion. These tiny florals love sun or partial shade. They multiply fast, so fill in is quick! If you plant them near your sitting area, the fragance is so pleasant....

How windy is your balcony? That is one thing to think about if you decide to try some vines on a trellis to block the view. I know that over the years, privacy planting has been a hot topic here. I had personally been desperately seeking privacy from a nuisance neighbor next door who FINALLY MOVED about a month ago (THANK GOD). Fortunately I am on the end so I don't have anyone on the opposite side. However the past 4 - 5 years have been hell with the couple next door who I shared a partition with, where the guy would continually come out and wrap his face around the partition to bother me while in his underwear. Since I have 2 balcony doors (including one from my bedroom), I did have an escape route and I would always have to be on the lookout for his sudden appearance so that I could take off down to the other end of the balcony if I heard him open his balcony door and step out. I have a honeysuckle vine trained on a trellis over by the smoked glass partition and have put my prickly pear cactus over on a shelf by the partition. I also put my tropical hibiscus over there but I think the thing that looks like it will be the best block now is my young plum tree. I bought it bareroot last winter and through last year, it produced a bunch of 3 - 4ft branches that created a nice canopy of leaves. Placing it near the partition really did the trick. In general, if it isn't too windy, a nice perennial (or even annual) fast-growing vine can provide a nice living privacy screen. Eg., morning glories, moonflower vines, honeysuckle, clematis, any of the bean vines (scarlet runner, hyacinth, etc). In addition, with your sunny exposure, you could try some roses - particularly hardy climbing roses that throw out long canes that you can tie and train to a trellis or other support. You could try some trees, whether evergreen - eg., alberta spruce or an aborvitae (thuja) or deciduous (check hardiness - a popular container one like the japanese maple may have cultivars that are marginal where you are) or even hardy fruit trees. And finally, don't rule out hardy shrubs like lilacs. I use my lilacs and blueberries as a privacy hedge across from my bedroom.

Corrigan, I think, as they say in Las Vegas, "you are trying to make your point the hard way". It doesn't matter what way your form your beds, its the sun exposure that makes the difference and since you are aware that some plants will be taller....or with more foliage, than others, then it comes down to how you plan your beds. Make a sketch of just how you see your vegetables in the beds. As far as how the beds receive sunlight, that can depend on other obstancles --such as trees, buildings, fences etc. The main concern about raised beds is how they drain well and how you can properly moisturize the soil. If you have, perhaps, an automatic sprinkling system, that would not be what your vegetable patch would like since the water is timed and such watering may not be according to how the plants should be given their watering. Since beds that are raised---even slightly, will drain much better than surface beds, a better means of delivering water--such as a hose that will reach satisfactorily the furthest plants. One point; the size of the bed is good...4 by 8, since this allows you to easily reach the center of each patch without having to step into the bed....thus preventing compacting the soil there. You mention in other years your tomatoes have had problems. You should really do a google search on each vegetable you plan on putting in for their advisability to be rotated. As long as the patch is 10 feet away from where it was prior to, that is OK. Then there are families of vegetables that should be considered to be planted near each other. In this way, like vegetables can be given applications of fertilizer and pesticide in a like manner. Crop rotation prevents building diseases up in the soil and preserves micro-nutrients. Rotating is not very difficult, but does take a little advance planning as well as a basic knowledge of the vegetable families. Vegetables are broken down into basic family groups. These groups should be rotated together as they use soil in similar ways and share similar pests. Alliums Include Onions, Garlic, Scallions, Shallots, and Leeks Brassicas include Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, and Kale. Crucifers include Turnips, Radishes, Rutabaga, and Collards. Cucurbits Include Cucumbers, Squashes (from zucchini to pumpkin), and Melons. Legumes Include Peas and Beans. Solanaceae Include Tomatoes, Peppers, and Eggplant. Perennial vegetables such as Asparagus, Rhubarb and Artichokes should not be rotated and therefore should be planted separately. The rest should be rotated every year on a four year plan (so that the same family of vegetables is not planted in the same location within four years). This is easy to accommodate if you have planted four beds for your rotating plants and one bed for your non-rotating perennials. See where that advanced planning starts to come in handy? Rhubarb can be re-invigorated once it loses its good growing..dig up the plant, remove at least 1/2 the soil it has there with some good compost. Wood ashes can be added to soil that is heavy loamÂbut do add lots of humus with compost. If annual vegetable crops are grown in the same place year after year, there is a risk that soil borne pests and diseases will become a problem, and that plant health and vigour will decline. Organised rotation helps to prevent the build up of problems in the soil. Likewise, there are certain combinations of plants that will inhibit the growth of one or both types of plants. Here are a few combinations to avoid: Potatoes  inhibit growth of tomatoes and squash Beans  inhibit growth of onions Broccoli  inhibits growth of tomatoes Carrots  inhibit growth of dill This isnÂt to say that you canÂt grow these plants together in the same garden, just donÂt grow them right next to each other.

I would think you could creatively orient the house to get some southern exposure but keep the view. You still will usually get sun with a 10 foot overhang. In the East, it is first thing in the AM for not very long. In the South - it is December. What does one do with a 60 foot wide porch? You are doing it for a look and then you are making your house dark and not getting winter solar gain because of it. That might be too big of a compromise for looks. It doesn't look like this will be a showpiece house where you will get too many people staring at it. I certainly understand that people like their house to look nice. And that is a much easier feature to think about when planning. Much easier than how sunny the house will feel in various parts of the year and various parts of the day. My wife was doing a puzzle in the breakfast room yesterday and was getting a little hot ... from the December sun. She was near a south bank of windows. Doesn't sunny warmth in December sound like a good idea? Sounds like the West sun is not a problem. And it is no way comparable to an oceanfront Florida home that has no trees or elevation change of significant height on the West side.