

My California lilac and rosemary are getting all the attention at the moment. There’s still a lot of trees etc in flower at the moment so don’t dispair yet! I expect my green alkanet and viper’s bugloss (when it flowers later) will be busy once the spring moves to summer. Geraniums and salvias too!
No problem! Look up “all you can eat in three square feet” there’s a good book of that title, could be some online stuff too. Also read up about companion planting.
Soil science both in terms of chemistry and micro organisms can be quite interesting, but probably only of much use for troubleshooting. Although the nature of balcony/pot growing probably makes it less relevant as you’ll be wanting to refresh the soil/compost each year so the conditions will be too changable to use that if you have problems. I’d focus on pest defence, light/heat, watering and fertilising (fresh compost will provide nutrients for a few months generally) over more specific soil conditions!