Building a patio.

Hi, I'm looking to transform my awful looking patio into a wooden patio / deck area.
Here are some pics of the area now and a similar finished product pic from YouTube: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1VisqSxPhhWQKvl6DoQZRkFWVcou-RzO3


Here is the front stone wall that I almost completely demolished:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H-O3j0ZuRl4SpjlLF8739Dj50tpWyATk/view?usp=drivesdk

I have a bunch of questions as I go along but my question for now is what do I do with the dirt that's behind the wall? Should I get rid of it all? A few inches of it from the edges? Or just leave it and build out from where it ends? My problem is that's the same dirt that pushed out the old wall with a bunch of moisture as it was leaning on a 15° angle or so due to moisture not having anyway to escape.Thanks for any help.

 

It helps that the pics came through here as opposed to the other site where you posted this. Now that I can see them, I think a wood deck would be fine but keep in mind that you will need concrete footings down past the frost line in your area.

 

Deck blocks wouldn't work?

 

Not without allowing the same thing to happen that you're trying to remedy with the current structure.