Sunny balcony - best to grow

[bryceQ]

I have an enormous very sunny balcony, last year I grew tomato's, blueberries and lots of herbs. My strawberries weren't very successful. Any ideas for what would thrive this summer that's edible? I'm a bit of a novice but learning!

Sorry this is long! Where does your balcony face? Sth, Nth etc? Direct sunlight on the floor or just 'light'? How many hrs of sunshine in summer? If you have enough sunlight hours getting to your balcony, you could really grow almost anything!

I too consider myself a novice, although have maybe 3 yrs experience now. I was renovating and living in a caravan, so grew everything in pots that 1st year.
I grow things I like to eat, are expensive or harder to get in shops, but also things I consider fairly easy. Initially I bought seeds from lidl, but now tend to buy from suttons, kings seeds or the Real seed company. I'm also on gardeners corner o ask questions. All the following I have grown in either large, round pots or troughs and still do have some in pots because the garden is still being sorted! You can also grow things up a wall in gradating pots.

• Yellow and red raspberries
• regular runner beans in both green and purple but also french beans and dwarf varieties
• Suttons have a bush butternut squash variety I'm trying this year. I did grow a regular one in a pot- but it only grew 1 fruit. Kuri squash are delicious and will also grow in a large pot.
• Courgettes. Not just regular long ones but also patty pan and round types.
• Jerusalem artichokes
• Horseradish
• Beetroot. Last year I had the normal red type, but also a yellow, white and chioggia stripey type
• Yellow, purple and green mange tout
• Aubergine. A regular type I found in the bargain bucket of dying plants at B&Q. Both plants did very well in 40cm pots outside. This year I'm trying a Thai pea and a small, round kermit variety, but not sure they'll cope outside.
• Padron peppers, regular peppers and habanero chillis. I did bring them inside at the end of the season. I trimmed the habanero back and was surprised to see it came to live the following spring!

Some quick crops I also Iike are which only take weeks and no space to grow:

• salad leaves
• radish
• pea shoots
• cress

Oh wow this is so helpful.

I'm going to see what's at my garden centre.

It faces south and the sun runs across it through the day right until sunset. It gets unbearably hot in summer. I have to water multiple times a day! I'm in London.

Prior to living where I am now, I lived in a central London flat with a terrace! I completely understand the heat- at least 5'c hotter on the same day to where I am now. My biggest issue there were pots drying out- especially if I went away for even just a weekend or even missed 1 day! You could try sitting pots inside a plastic grow bag tray of water or sitting inside a larger pot tray of water! The plant will then suck up as much water as they need. Not in water the whole time, but on extra hot days it really helps

I would grow tomatoes! They are the most different when home grown, and will love a hot terrace.

Also basil (keep it well watered and all the mediterranean herbs (will tolerate getting dry). Rosemary, bay sage, thyme, marjoram, oregano.

There are patio varieties of courgette which would do well in pots.

You can even get some mini fruit trees, like peaches.

I would consider a lemon as well, the flowers smell amazing, and they are great in pots.

You can make a self watering pot by buying a pot without drainage holes and putting them a couple of inches up the side instead of at the base.

Thank you! Yes my basil becomes a mighty thing! I had tomatoes last year and they were over 6ft high I had to get canes... Is this the best way of doing them?

I have an orange tree, lemon would be nice.

I think my lettuce died last year, would that have a problem with too much sun?

Cucumbers also do well in pots and taste much better than shop ones.

@CJ0374 artichokes in pots - tell me more! I’d assumed that at 6ft high they’d need to be in the ground, and my garden was too shady. I’m really missing them, can’t find them as a vegetable round here, so growing my own is going to be the only option.

@MereDintofPandiculation Yes, I have jerusalem artichokes in pots. I don't have a pic of them fully grown, but you can see them coming up now in a pic below. Not the best pot, because they have blown over before, but will go in the ground when the garden is done. I also have cardoon- which is a type of artichoke, but you just eat the leaf spine and not the globe part. I've included a few other pics from previous years- all grown in pots.

Thanks. That's a slightly smaller pot than the ones I use, I think, so I should be OK.

My lettuce has always tended to bolt when it gets too hot. When I lived in the med area, the only way to grow it was under a continuous cooling mist, which is not practical on a domestic basis.

Peas!

Strawberries are always a bit poor their first year, they should do much better this year

For something a bit different and fun to grow, I would suggest cucamelon. They do need something to scramble up though as they put out a lot of tendrils.
Climbing French beans can be grown in a big pot with long bamboo canes to support, they are so nice picked and eaten fresh

If I only had a balcony I would grow tomatoes, chillis, basil and coriander. I'd have thyme, oregano and a bay on hand for year round herbage.

I would grow a dwarf fig (Little Miss Figgy variety), tomatoes, herbs (basil, chives, thyme, oregano), climbing french beans and sugar snap peas, strawberries and blueberries. Cucumbers and melons might be good too or a small variety of winter squash. Cavolo nero grows well in pots and looks great. And nasturtiums and tagetes as edible companion plants.

So many ideas thank you!

It's a big space it covers the whole front of my flat so three rooms across. Plenty space to grow!