I didn't do much of any type of gardening on my balcony this year mostly because I couldn't buy any seedlings and seeds anywhere; the garden centers were just empty. Come next year I want to go all out again like I used too. My balcony growing space is 5'x7' and the balcony walls are all glass, no balcony overhead so I get a fair amount of sun even facing north.
On that space I usually grow lettuces and radishes and chives first, then spring onions, 4-5 herbs, carrots for fun, green beans sometimes, and finally kale. I'll get handfuls of cherry sized tomatos from 1-2 plants. I've tried other vegetables too, with limited success, probably because of the sun. With such a small space I need to use the real estate carefully.
My pleasure is to be able to pick a tiny bit of "something" nearly every day from later May to end of September, even a bit later if the weather cooperates.