Hi,

I posted on uk.diy about the diy aspects of this, but I thought maybe
I should ask here about the horticultural points.

I've got a patio which goes up to a wall which I want to grow climbers
up. I could just put the climbers in pots. But probably the neatest
and most easily-maintained option would be to put them in the ground
by cutting through the slabs and excavating the base a bit until I hit
soil, and then filling the resulting hole with compost.

From uk.diy discussions it looks like the best way to do this will be
by using a core cutter and a drill to make a 4" (or maybe 6"?) hole
straight through the paving and base to the soil.

Does anyone here have any experience of this or thoughts about it? I
don't know that the condition of the soil is under the paving, and I
won't have much chance of digging in loads of horse manure through a
4" hole. Clearly the plants will be close to the wall, and its
foundations. Will it be too difficult to get the climbers established?
I'm planning on using an automatic watering system with a drip-feed to
keep them well-watered. Should I go back to plan A and use pots?

Cheers!

Martin