Here is a photo of a pond that we are converting to a dry creekbed. The arrival of an infant to this residence meant that the 4ft deep pond had to go. Rather than remove the pond we decided to fill it with gravel and add fieldstone and river rock on top to simulate a seasonal creek.

First, ten years worth of muck had to be cleaned out. I used a sump pump to irrigate the landscape with the pond water, then got on my rubber boots and started muckraking. Literally. While gross, this scum is actually tremendous fertilizer.

I enlisted my friends Andrew and Melissa to help me with the muck, and then the rock. The three of us slogged through the dirty work, then moved and tamped three and a half yards of gravel road base. Next came 8 large boulders, which we carefully arranged. We imagined how water might move through the creek, and shape the geography.