Hi Togz
The various "Pound" shops have a good variety of containers which could be useful for you. Have you thought about buying one of the small plastic greenhouses? I think I've seen some for under £8 and it would protect your seedlings/plants against frost etc. On eBay you can buy hanging "bags" pretty cheap which you maybe able to hang on to the inside of your balcony for added space.
Hope it goes well
Paul

I've got a small balcony too, and do grow loads of stuff out there, but there's one important question that needs answering first - how much sun does your balcony get?

Thanks for the response,
I don't think I need a poly type thing, just some advice on compost etc would be usefull. The balcony gets sun most of the day, ( ha! This is the UK ). I just want a low maintenance way of enjoying the pleasure of a summers evening.
Ta!.

Like mine then. I don't know just how big your balcony is, but on mine, I've got two troughs, bit like large window boxes, with taller pots either side and a lower pot in the middle. I used multi purpose compost mixed with vermiculite originally, but as that is so rubbish these days, its probably best to use some decent multi purpose mixed with a bit of John Innes No. 2 and vermiculite or perlite, to make the mix as light as possible - weight can be an issue on balconies. If you need to crock any pots which have a single hole, those polystyrene boxes that bedding plants come in, broken up, work well for that.

I use the troughs for summer flowering stuff, like trailing petunias, upright geraniums and the like, changing to winter pansies and small evergreens in winter. The taller pots (between 2 and 3 feet deep) house permanent subjects, in my case, Phormium, Clematis (against a bit of wall with some mesh). Then I have smaller pots with herbs like chives and rosemary. None of these is fragrant of course - Matthiola bicornis (night scented stock) is a good choice, but it does seem to prefer a bit of protection early in the year, so you can either sow in pots under cover and then transfer when they're big enough, or take a chance and sow directly into your containers. Good subject for a trough, actually, mixed in with other plants.

In terms of containers, the best thing to do is work out what you want to grow (permanent things like shrubs need more root depth than a trough will give), whether you've got room to grow them, and then choose the containers, trying to get them all very similar looking, maybe all the same colour or something, otherwise you end up with a random collection of pots that doesn't look good to anyone looking at your balcony.

I also grow an annual night phlox for its scent and like the stock the flower opens in the evening. grow mingles in with other flowers or they look tatty.
compost as bamboo says.

Good god.
I just want "simples". Ok this is what I have"
4 containers compost on the way I hope, Jonh iness,no 3. Or sumit. 3packs of seeds.
Night stock
Sweet William
Sweet peas.l
I hope Iv orderd the earth!, otherwise' I'm buggerd
Respect!.

'

Hmm, I hesitate to say this, but you can't sow seeds into John Innes No. 3 - you need multi purpose or seed and cutting compost for that. JI No. 3 is really suitable for slightly more mature long term shrubs/trees kept in pots, because it has a higher feed content which will burn seedlings. Sorry if it seems complicated, but gardening isn't as simple as its assumed to be.