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Here's a brief update on my new garden.
This is about half of my balcony. The other half is for drying clothes (we don't have a dryer) and storing my grill.
Here's what is supposed to be Carolina Reaper that died off around Sept/Oct. I was just about to clean it out, when it started sprouting new leaves and some new branches. It looks really healthy, and it's drinking up quite a bit of water, so I haven't sent it to it's grave. I'm hoping I'll get a few peppers so I can verify they're what they were claimed to be. If so, I'll try to sprout a new one and replace this one.

Edit- I selected the wrong pictures...

These are my okra. The picture that looks like just soil actually has a few sprouts in there . I've got two more just poking from the top of the peat pellets inside, and I'm going to transplant them to wherever I don't get growth. I believe I said before I'm looking to get somewhere between 15-20 into that planter. I figure it'll be a little bit close for their comfort, but I only grew 4 plants last year and it was just never enough okra at once to make much of a difference. It's a bit unfortunate for them, but these okra are my lab mice...

Now, here's my Edamame-
The Edamame doing pretty well. This is the first time I've grown it, and only at the request of my wife. Looks like it's doing pretty well! It's even sprouting some new growth from the top.

And as a quick note- yes, that hideous grapefruit colored paint is actually the color of my entire building. There are a lot of buildings here colored like that. Aside from the buildings, still a beautiful place.

Also, the two larger pots in the back are reserved for tomatoes and peppers. I lost some sprouts because I wasn't expecting the heat to be so intense so quick, and they just couldn't hack it. I've since dropped a few seeds into the pot in back left and hoping they'll sprout there and be able to handle the heat. (since I'm out of peat pellets)

My peperoncini are in a wet napkin in a plastic bag on my "junk table." I'm just waiting for the first sprout so I can get started on collecting peppers.

Let me know what you guys think!

I think you need to get 3 more of those pots that you have the okra in and put a maximum of 4 plants in each pot. What kind of okra are you growing? Most that I have seen get very tall and wide.

Do you have or can you put in hooks on the ceiling for hanging baskets? Strawberries would do very well in hanging baskets.

I look at your balcony and think "that's so tiny" then remember that I had a spot about that size for several years when we lived in town. Mine was a little "flower bed" next to our ground floor apartment. It still produced enough tomatoes to keep me happy.

It's going to be fun to see how you make best use of the space you have.

In terms of footprint, have you considered using a SIP (sub-irrigated planter) for your okras? I think weight is probably not going to be an issue with the structure of the veranda? You will need a narrower container than these, but I expect you would be able to find something. And they can support and grow more per squarefoot (squaremeter?) area --

Subject: Self Watering Container and Sub-irrigated Planter

albopepper wrote:Here are examples of things grown in my 30 gallon SIP totes, without using any plastic cover at all:

{... many more photos and discussions in the thread}

@Butterflylady29 I absolutely agree with you on space for the okra. I would love to be able to give them more room, but last year I only had 4 or 5 in that same pot, and it was more frustrating than it was worth. I'm actually using the same bag of seeds from last year and they were almost perfectly straight stalks. The upper parts of the plants shouldn't crowd each other. I'm mostly concerned the plants will choke each other out for water and nutrients. I still may thin them out some more after they grow a bit more.

@applestar I would guess weight it definitely not an issue. The entire structure is concrete, and designed to withstand typhoons. Typically there are 3-6 strong typhoons which directly hit the Okinawa mainland each year. Which is an inhibitor for sips. I got some good info and links from imafan, but I decided it wouldn't be worth the trouble because it would be rather troubling to lift them up and bring them in the apartment for each typhoon. I ended up losing my okra last year to a freak wind storm that snapped them just above the stake I had next to them. Before they fell they were about 3-1/2 feet, so they were already difficult to move around without having a few gallons of water sitting below them.

That little green pot next to the okra is actually a small sip I bought with a kiwi plant in it. Unfortunately, I didn't realize how much space it needed and I simply couldn't keep it on my balcony.

As for hanging baskets, I will certainly have a look when I check on my plants later. My wife just asked me about growing strawberries the other day. I never thought much of it because my balcony faces south and the sun gets extremely intense. It's also really humid and I hear strawberries don't like humidity. And the snails! They're ridiculous! I have seen them bigger than Trump's hands! I haven't seen any around my apartment, and I'd like to keep it that way.

All of that aside, I'm limited on funds for the moment until I get started with college. I haven't been working since October, and savings are getting pretty thin.

Well, I understand about money being very tight. Most of us around here have probably been through times like that.

When you can, you should think about some way to raise those plants, so they aren't so shaded by the wall. Get a narrow table like people put in their entry halls (you can find them cheap in used furniture/ thrift stores), build some kind of plant stand, etc. Or any kind of bench



and here's a bench my partner built for the deck at our previous home (it was made for the space and very large and heavy, so we left it behind).



Anyway, the point is just to get those plants up off the ground and closer to the sun.

Those look great! I'll definitely look into it. Wood shouldn't be too expensive, even here. Thanks for the suggestion.

I'm trading some of my seeds tomorrow with someone locally. They're going to give me some Pink Tiger tomato seeds. I'll be trading them Black Vernissage, Costoluto Fiorentino, and Italian Peperoncini. (I got my own into the seed starter yesterday)

On another great note, I found my Carolina Reaper seeds from last year. I still have about 10 left, so I'm going to try to start some of them, and if I get any sprouts, I can replace the stunted pepper plant earlier than I expected!