Balcony gardens

A balcony garden is exactly what it sounds like—a garden arranged on a balcony. Given the limited space, this type of urban gardening relies on container gardening. Depending on the size of your balcony, you can add small trellises to your pots and containers to enable some plants to grow vertically.

• Pots
• Green walls aka Vertical gardens
• Hanging baskets
• PVC Planters. A vertical pipe, often made from PVC, with smoll holes in the side. Suitable for herbs, or other plants that don't need frequent replanting

This is subjective (grow what you like!) and depends on your local climate, but here are some suggestions.

Grow things that taste great fresh, and/or you can't buy easily, or that you normally don't buy because you it's hard to plan ahead for spontaneous use of herbs or unusual salads. Being fresh, they can taste great even before the salad dressing.

During cool weather, grow pots of baby lettuce, spinach and rocket (all much nicer fresh). Also good are nasturtiums (for flowers & leaves) & marigold (petals can be used in a salad), coriander (cilantro), parsley, mint, basil, Vietnamese mint and various other herbs.

If your rocket or spinach become too mature for salads, they can be cooked, e.g. in a pasta sauce.

Other ideas: cherry tomatoes, strawberries.

• Lazy gardening

• Tips: Urban, Community, Container & Windowsill Gardening - links & ideas. (Pollanesque community discussion on Livejournal.)
• Self-sufficiency on a balcony - Jackie French, smh.com.au, April 24, 2007. Detailed suggestions of what to plant, including vines for fruit and vegetables.