If your balcony gets full sun ( at least 6 hours, preferably 8 or more ) you can grow tomatoes in pots and all sorts of other fun stuff. You could have a pot of morning glory vines ( sun lovers ) that can twine across your balcony railing and up a trellis. You can grow dwarf sunflowers. Cosmos ( that get really tall and sport gazillions of flowers into the late fall. )
A great cherry type tomato is “Sungold” they produce hundreds and hundreds of delicious, tiny, yellow-gold fruit.I grew just one last year and it was more than I could keep up with, harvesting about 2 cups a day of fruit. Most excellent just halved and marinated in a little red wine or italian/balsamic dressing, or, especially with sliced cucumbers too.
A medium size, lightweight plastic pot will be all you need filled with high quality soil and steer manure. The more poo the better. Fertilize weekly with something like Miracle Grow and you will have tomato up the wazoo. lol
I have tons of hybrid morning glory seeds I collected this year. If you want a few dozen just PM me and I’ll send you some. :-)
They’re a mix of white with pink/purple/blue dots, rose color, deep purples and who knows what else. Every year is an adventure.:-)
You can also grow shade loving Impatiens in the shady corners and hang other baskets of whatever from the overhang.
I also love Zebra grasses and they are really impressive in pots but need to be cut back in March or so for the new growing season. You would have a huge pile of dry grasses to dispose of, but, they are the coolest grasses. Purple Fountain grass is beautiful and impressive too. Both like sun.
You can also find some really cool shade/partial sun, bamboos and another thing I LOVE, is find a ceramic bowl on a pedestal and fill it with pebbles and add small aquatic plants. Water gardens are awesome! I have a set up like that on my deck and it weighs, maybe 40 lbs. or so with rocks and plants. You do need to top it off daily if the water becomes too hot in the summer.
Have fun…gardening is so fun!