I was out this morning observing one of the garden plots I'm taking over, and I noticed a lot of soil and detritus has been washed away by our recent heavy rains. This gave me another convenient source of mulch, actually--there's a mulch trap downhill of the garden where the grass grows tall and catches it, allowing the water to pass on. Until I can come up with better ways to pacify the water, I think I'm going to add chicken wire to the downhill side of my garden fence to act as its own mulch trap and keep my precious mulch materials from washing out of the garden--and once a layer of mulch builds up there, it should slow the water somewhat and help prevent erosion downhill. And, of course, getting the bare garden soil covered is a top priority.