Tomatoes And Peppers Are Leggy And Take A Long Time To Produce Little Fruit

Question From: D. Hawkins - Miami, Florida, United States
Q: I live in southern florida in an apartment. My balcony faces north, but I have two trees covering my balcony most of the day. I receive sunlight on the eastern part of my balcony for approximately 2-4 hours in the morning (depending on the weather) and 1-2 hours of sunlight on the western part of the balcony in the evening. I tried growing cherry tomatoes and cayenne peppers because I'm still new to growing and their easy :) but they were leggy, the tomatoes only produced three fruit, and the peppers took almost 6 months to bud (also with a very moderate yield). My question is: Are there better types of tomatoes and peppers I could switch to? Or should I give up on those all together? What other herbs and veggies would suit me?

A: Sunlight is your issue. Tomatoes and pepper are sun lovers - six or more hours a day. See if you can find a spot in ground around the building or possibly a neighbor who would like to share. Best And Happy Yardening, Nancy