Hi guys, not sure if this is the right forum for this, but I couldn't find anything more suitable.

My house faces west. I have an existing sidewalk leading north, up toward my front porch door. There's a 90 degree left hand turn to get to the front steps. Between the house and the sidewalk is an area that I want to use as a planting bed. It's about 5 feet wide and runs the length of the sidewalk, about 12 feet. The sidewalk is about 3 feet wide. It's bordered on the right by a railroad tie. I have drainage problems in my yard, and have recently had a drainage box installed in the ground at the inside corner where the sidewalk makes the turn to lead to the front steps.

While I'm defining and improving the planting bed, I'd also like to raise the sidewalk so that it doesn't get as swamped when it pours here in Georgia (which it seems to all the time lately). I would extend the width of the walkway to take up more of the bare ground at the edge of the planting beds.

So, can I lay pavers over an old concrete sidewalk in GA? I would take out the top few inches of dirt from the edge of the bed so that the pavers covering that area are flush with the ones covering the concrete. I could use a plastic edger to put a tight edge on the left hand side of the walkway. I would use a layer of sand to seat the pavers. A couple of inches of bare ground would be to the left of walkway, then I would use landscape timbers or concerete edgers to define the beginning of the planting bed.

What do you guys think of that? In the process I could excavate more dirt to lower the grade down toward the new drainage box since the grade keeps it from living up to its full potential.

Thanks and sorry for the book I wrote!

Kelle