Advice For Balcony Garden For A Total Gardening Newbie

Hi Everyone,
I will be moving in about a week and a half to a new apartment. This apartment includes a pretty good-sized balcony. I've never had a balcony before, so I really want to grow a few things. I am a total newbie to any gardening - never did it in my life. The closest I came was trying to keep a plant in my apartment years ago and it died on me (which already gives you a clue as to my gardening skills...)

So I'm looking to start a very small and basic garden at first. My mom grows mostly herbs on her balcony garden, so I'd love to do that. I use a lot of chives and cilantro in cooking, so it would be awesome to grow those and not have to spend money on them in the grocery store. I would also love some tea herbs like lemongrass and mint. I read recently that radishes and tomatoes are pretty easy to grow at home and I use those often in cooking as well, but that might be too much for me to tackle right now.

So my question is - how the heck to I get started???

I do have a few limitations. I don't have a car so whatever gardening tools and things I get will have to be local. The most local place I have that would have those things is Walmart (I know, boo to Walmart, but I don't have a choice). Also, I live in West Texas, where the weather is typically quite dry and dusty and very hot in the summer. So that might limit me in terms of what I can grow.

I also forgot to mention that I have a few fairly large plastic storage boxes that I'm not using right now. I thought they might be good for converting into gardening boxes, as they are small but deep. I have no idea if you can grow things in a plastic box, though (that's how clueless I am!)

Any tips on how to get start would be great. Any websites good for beginners like me for balcony gardens would be cool too.

Djuna