DH and I are signing a 2 year lease in about 6 hours and are SO excited about our new apartment. It has a huge balcony (narrow but long) and I'm planning to do some small-scale container gardening. Mostly herbs and little things that don't need too much space. My question is which plants I should be planting. Here are the details:

Northeastern sun exposure. I can canopy the balcony to create more shade if I want but it's not a particularly sunny spot. There is a balcony directly over it which also shades it further.

Temperate Mediterranean climate, i.e., very hot dry summers, moderate winters (frequent winter freezing, but never below 25 F and almost never below freezing for more than 3-4 hours/day), but I can easily move anything indoors for the winter.

I am not really interested in growing flowers or decorative plants. I'm more looking to supplement our food supply / cut grocery costs / have access to fresh herbs for less money. What do you think would like this exposure?