Wood Pallet Mini-Deck DIY

Living in a rental we were the lucky inheritors of a sorely neglected backyard. For some reason the previous tenants put limestone behind the air conditioner. They didn't put any weed barrier down first so it was constantly grown over with weeds and grass. Our soil is mainly clay and stays pretty damp, especially here in the shade, so the limestone also started turning greenish with algae. The grass that we planted was also suffering in the shady and damp soil, leaving bare muddy patches in the yard. It was a real eyesore.

I wanted to make this spot nicer and more useful. I had seen a lot of wood pallet do-it-yourself projects so I combined the idea of re-purposing a pallet with my idea of a "mini-deck". I found a perfect pallet for the space - it only needed to be shortened, which was easily done with my hand saw. The only tricky part was fitting the pallet around the exposed pipe. To fix that problem I just cut the corner off the pallet and refitted the (shortened) corner into place.

Next, the shady grass... I noticed that the moss I had transplanted last year was well established and it was even growing out into the grass and filling in the spots where the grass wasn't too thick. Between the grass and the moss it was turning into a nice lush green. After weeding the muddy spot under the wood edging I transplanted moss onto that spot.

To transplant moss I've found it works well to firmly press the moss into wet soil. You really want it to have full contact with the ground otherwise the underside of your moss will dry out and have a hard time re-establishing itself. You can fluff it up afterwards because it will look pretty flattened. Moss is pretty forgiving about being stepped on, also making it a good choice for a lawn supplement.

Here it is after the new "decking" was installed. I placed some pretty flower pots to hide the pipe. There is a good portion of the new moss added (but I think I need a little more closer to the wall). The ferns have unfurled too! I think it's much nicer looking! So what do you guys think, thumbs up?