Thank you SO very much, mindshift! These are exactly the kind of things I needed to know. Now, off to peruse the link and start planning...

Does your dry creek have a function? If it helps with moving water away from the house for instance, that is fine, but otherwise I would skip it. There is a steep learning curve to making these both function well and look realistic since the size and placement of stone is crucial as is the land contour to make water flow rather than puddle. Since you are putting this in the front yard, you want it to look good, and this would be a tough thing for even an experienced gardener to do well. They can be expensive to install (buying the needed big rocks along with medium and smaller ones, and also can be tough to maintain, keeping it weeded (rock is difficult to weed) and keeping organic debris out, whether is is mulch or leaves and seeds. If you decide to go ahead with this, do lots and lots of reading and lots and lots of looking at photos of both natural and manmade streams.

Your plan to weed, lay cardboard, and then mulch before planting is excellent. Since you already have weeds growing, you want to do this ASAP since there are weeds that will go to seed in just a few weeks and you want to prevent that. It sounds like you have a lot of area to plant, and having mulch down while you get this done will reduce your weeding while you plant. As mindshift suggested, keep on top of weeding as little weeds are easier to remove than large ones.

if you add photos in the comments below, you may get more suggestions. It takes time for photos to post, and if you reduce them some in size before posting, they are more likely to post.

For the vege garden, 6 ft is pretty wide. Most raised beds are 4' so that you don't have to step into the bed in order to weed, pick etc.. Be sure to leave enough room to maneuver a wheelbarrow around the beds so you can add soil, compost etc.. I like 3 ft if possible.

If you see ANY gopher activity (starting NOW) in your neighborhood, be sure to line the bottom of your vege boxes with hardware cloth ( 1/4x1/2" strong wire) NOT chicken wire, which will rot and gophers can get through the tiniest of holes! (as small as their heads!) If you have already filled them, I would suggest one of those solar gopher/mole "chatterers" for each bed. We've been using them for years and have had almost no Gopher activity in the garden area except if they stop operating for some reason.

Also check out neighbors' gardens! Ask them what works best for them, what grows well or doesn't (You're much warmer than we are in Sonoma Co). Gardeners love to talk gardening!

Most of all, have fun! Don't try to do it all at once! Nancy

Thank you for the very helpful suggestions and ideas! Trying to add pictures...

In the backyard beds, I placed these pavers (leftover from the patio project) lengthwise in the middle of the width of the beds, to aid with access to the back of them. Hopefully, that'll work.

Most of the longest bed:

Closer-up:

The shorter bed:

Vegetable beds (lined with gopher wire):

Front yard pics below. Bummer to hear of all the issues with the dry creek. They all make sense, so that's good to know. I was hoping it would kinda meander around the tree, front to back. The yard does slope down toward the street, so water would flow down it if we have significant rain, but it would be dry for sure April-November.

Front view:

Lateral view to show the evergreens on one side. Between those and the central Magnolia tree ("Maggie") this area only gets dappled sun, and only morning sun under the windows.

Have fun with your new space! That's so exciting. That's where we were four years ago. I now have a dry creek in my yard, and creative play spaces for kids, and lots of flowers, too. My zone isn't the same as yours, but anyhow, I thought I'd share just in case aspects are similar to what you're imagining.

Here's the dry creek. It's wet enough during the spring that it grows cattails and toads live in it:

We made a play-hill out of the dirt taken away to make the creek, here's a piece of it:

The biggest "lesson learned" is that in order for the space to be truly usable in the summer, I need more shade, more shade, more shade. I've planted trees, but they take a long time to grow.

Your space is GORGEOUS, Faith! Thank you for sharing it. We're thinking about shade in the backyard too, but while the trees grow, we'll have to do with a little teepee in a corner, and a pergola (that hopefully will have a vine or two climbing on it) over the patio.

My vines have been disappointingly slow in growing. I have been growing hyacinth beans and scarlet runners (both annuals) to try and fill in while I wait for my grapes, climbing roses, clematis, trumpet vine, silver lace vine, and virginia creeper to fill in. This will be their third year after planting so hopefully they'll really take off, fingers crossed. They are next to fences, the pergola, and a set of trellises that I imagine will be like a "living tunnel" one day. Maybe this summer? Here they are late August last year.

Faith your gardens are so awesome!

The children must really enjoy them. They will have so many wonderful memories, thanks to all of your creativity and hard work....Kudos to you!!!