Filling in a dirt space at head of driveway: asphalt, pavers, something else?

Hello DIY, There is an area in the front/side of my house that is bare dirt in the winter and a weed patch in the summer. It also is a path for drainage of water from my driveway to the backyard. And the area is the only drivable access to my backyard and the riding mower must have access.

The area is approximately 7' deep and 9.5' wide. It faces due north and almost never gets sun. Images are here: http://ift.tt/1Lr5oaa http://ift.tt/1OJ0cJJ

The water from the driveway runs away from the garage/drive towards the gate and into the back yard. You can see a drain we installed between the drive and garage that connects to a pipe leading to a sink and then out about 50' into a drypit in the backyard (off screen). The drain is buried and runs roughly under the stone line (its actually closer to the wall). The downspout connects to it via a T.

We'd like to get have the area in front of the curved stone line (in front of the buried drain) to no longer be dirt. The area behind the stone line could be converted into a raised bed behind a short retaining wall (one almost buried level, two visible) to help prevent sloping of the dirt. Currently, the only things growing there are an azalea bush and some bulbs (to the side of the house). But what should the flat area in front of the small retaining wall be? Here are options:

1. Extend the asphalt of the driveway forward (approx 4' deep by 9.5" wide). Nothing will be parked on it ever and only the mower will drive over it. Not sure if this is something we'd be able to do, but I doubt it. Patching asphalt I can do...pouring a slab, less so.

2. Pavers (likely not the 16x16 flats, but brick sized or cinder block sized): easier for us to install, but the asphalt slopes down and I want to make sure there is a decent channel for water diversion.

3. River rocks (those used to be there and I hate them). Not good when they encounter the snowblower.

4. Other ideas?

We are in Maryland, FWIW. We are quite handy (the drain in front of the garage is our handiwork), so we like doing things ourselves. This is my first post, so if I've made any errors, please be kind. Thanks.

Submitted March 01, 2016 at 01:16AM by DrFiveLittleMonkeys http://ift.tt/1OJ0dxa