I live in an apartment with my girlfriend. Lillies are her favorite and she is extremely fond of gardening. But we have zero backyard space, so we have been giving serious thoughts to raise garden beds in our balcony. Apart from raising garden bed, is there anything more we could do or try?
I'm also somewhat new to things other than the traditional gardening methods. But there are lots of folks here that are very helpful. In addition to those things you've already posted. Like I said in another thread. I built a rack out of rebar for his apartment so he could set a modified pallet atop it outside his windows to fill with soil. Just check your local ordinances to make sure you won't end up with the cops knocking on your door. What direction do your balcony and windows face? Its important because of sun exposure. Some churches and community centers in some cities have garden plots that you can rent. Then there's also indoor plants and what not.
Marygold, check with the manager of the building to find out the load capacity of the balcony. Dirt, especially wet dirt, is quite heavy and could cause a disaster.
You can grow anything and everything in pots. I always have lots of decorative pots overflowing with just about everything. My blueberries spent their first two years in pots before I could decide where to put them. I've raised just about every vegetable and herb in pots. As I was transitioning to a Huglekultur bed a had my ghetto garden with five gallon plastic pots. Annual flowers like nasturtiums and calendula are great edible fillers with color. Scarlet runner beans make a Great Wall of green with pretty flowers.
