On my balcony...

Nope it's not much...but it's more than we had :)

I'm going to start a small herb garden.  Balconies and porches are great places to grow herbs.  Why?  Because we don't need the plants to produce fruit in order to harvest!  Many vegetable and fruit plants need around eight hours of unfiltered sunlight to produce flowers, whereas with most herbs we are using the plant's leaves, not fruit or seeds.  Choose a few herbs that you use a lot; I plan to grow basil, parsley, cilantro, thyme, and oregano.  I'm also going to tempt fate and see if my balcony gets enough light to grow a zucchini plant.  One zucchini plant can easily keep our family in fresh zukes throughout the summer with enough leftover to put some in the freezer.

After choosing the herbs you would like to grow, figure out what size pot you plan to use.  My balcony is subject to strong winds, so the pots we used are rather large.  The next step may be tricky: finding a potting soil without added fertilizers, or at least, fertilizers that are safe for food plants.  You will also need some gravel to fill the bottom of your pots.  This allows excess water to drain without worry of the water being soaked back up into the pot.

The next question you need to ask yourself is whether you plan to buy young plants or seeds.  Both have their good and bad points.  Buying plants puts you that much closer to harvest.  It also allows you to choose a healthy, young plant without worry of buying an older (and possibly less viable) packet of seeds.  Starting from seed affords you a much greater variety - you would not believe all the available varieties of mint - while also ensuring that you are not bringing home any unwanted pests or diseases from a nursery.  If you decide to start from seed, I suggest you start your seedlings in a seed flat inside, where it is much easier to keep the soil moist. Move them outside after sprouting, or you will likely lose them to 'damping-off', a fungal disease.  Be sure to keep either your seedlings or newly potted young plants shaded for a time to ensure they don't get sunburned (yes, really!) or dry out, and subsequently die, before developing an adequate root system.

Be sure to get potting soil, and not compost or garden soil as these are too heavy for potted plants.  We mixed worm castings into our potting soil in lieu of using chemical fertilizers.  When the plants start showing signs that they need to be fed, the brave mix up a small amount of fish emulsion in the watering can - be careful not to get any on your fingers as soap will do nothing to remove the smell - plants love it!

With a little care, you are soon going to have more herbs than you can use on a day-to-day basis, so what to do with the rest?  Cut and dry either upside-down or in a dehydrator, or cut into small pieces and freeze in olive oil using an ice tray.

If you're gearing up to start a small, potted garden, I suggest you find a local nursery and ask a lot of questions.  These folks will normally have tons of knowledge about growing in the area (what works, what doesn't) and are in the business of keeping their customers happy.  They may even have gardening classes or know of a local community garden.  So, don't be shy!  When you're trying to learn new things, you have two options: learn the hard way, or ask a ton of questions and hopefully avert disaster.  And, please, don't let the fear of failure stop you.  One thing it took me decades to learn is that not trying is an automatic failure.