Advice for balcony growing in AZ?

Depending on what you are growing, know the needs of the plants to match your environment. You may need a small greenhouse to help with environmental control, i.e. temp, humidity, and light. Growing in pots, make sure you use proper soil for pots. Regardless, all soil should be loose and airy. Greenhouse does not mean big structures. You can build a small frame with clear plastic sheeting to cover say 4 pots. Greenhouse is just a controlled shelter for your plants. I hope this helps a bit.

Plants do not like too much heat or direct sun, then give them some shade under a canopy. Look at where you will be placing the plants. Go around your property throughout the day and map the location of direct sunlight all day, partial day (when during the day has direct light and when gets shade). You now have a map of where to place what plant based on that.

Unlike growing in-ground, growing in pots are more tricky and give you less room for error. The amount of soil and nutrients in the pots are more limited. Monitor to make sure you the soil is not waterlogged. I killed more plants in pots with water than anything else over the year. LOL

I am in southern California, so we do get heat. But, the trick to growing anywhere is understanding your environment and the needs of your plants. You don't want to grow plants that can survive up to Zone 5 in, say Zone 10.

Shaded raised beds. In AZ you can grow almost anything regardless of "Zone". I have pimped out fruiting bananas in the middle of the city. Find out the environment preferred by your plants and do your best to maintain that for them. In AZ with enough planning you can grow anything

As for JChangeOC you can check water in pots or soil by sticking your finger in the soil should be moist about an inch down. I would also recommend mulching the top of your pots. It will help with keeping the moisture and so much more. Nothing expensive or crazzy just organic so as it brakes down it replaces nutrients in your soil.

Also, side note that ties in with the other response. Know your plants some like different things. For soil to drain well for some plants may need to mix sand in with your soil. Some may prefer more sun than others and some may use more nitrogen or other nutrients that will need to be replenished while growing.

There is a you tube channel called Epic Gardening. His whole garden is raised beds and containers and he is located in San Diego, Ca. May want to watch some of his videos if you are just begging. Hope this has helped.

Thank you for all the comments. Still working out the kinks, but this information has been a great help!

I am very glad I was able to help. Sometimes it's a live and learn thing. I'm experimenting with different varriieties of the same plants now to see which do better where I am. I have 4 different kinds of watermelon in and 3 kinds of pumpkin, but it's fun and relaxing once you get it set up. As long as you have the basics though you can always add and change things as you go. Just have fun with it.

Checkout "mhpgardener" on YouTube he does some amazing things with the "Dutch bucket" system. The best part is that this system recycles the water so there is never any waste. Actually everything is recycled that really should be and there is virtually never any waste. He also does an awesome rail system using the same technique. His videos are very informative and very detailed. Plus he's very easy to listen to as well as understand. He also does raised beds with topsoil and other various topsoil ideas. However if you're considering topsoil I would check out "back to Eden" on YouTube. Compost is really amazing for holding moisture. As well as very inexpensive and sometimes even free! However my local compost place charges a little bit more than top soil for compost but it's still a much! cheaper price than any of the big box stores even after paying them for the delivery which is really not much. Depending on how local you are I paid 10 bucks... Dirt cheap, pun intended :)

I’m growing in a tiny balcony as well today I planted a few more I have no idea about gardening Ive been Doing a bit at a time, just post bought a small walking green house from aldies its slowly growing but no fruits yet. Got some peeler plants feeds as well as organize bone meal fertilizer I heard was good but that’s pretty much it, and hope for somethung to grow.

I agree with some shade and lots of water. I give the more delicate plants the early morning sun, and part shade or filtered sun the rest of the day. I also water 3x per day, not a lot of water, I just don't let them dry out. I have corn, watermelon, tomato, sweet peas, 3 kinds of beans, rice, cantaloupe, grapes, potatoes, apple trees, a lemon tree, a pineapple, peanuts, and banana. Nothing has died yet! I'm a first-time grower as well. God is good. It's not me lol. I'm at ~3100 feet in elevation in Southern AZ. Also, I have tons of earthworms and add them in the potted plants as well. Good luck with your garden!