Rain washes away mulch!

Specs: We are in Ga, Zone 7b. HOT and rainy summers.

My family recently moved and we worked hard to get a tiny garden in. Our soil is very wet and loose, which is something I have never worked with before. We used a pitchfork to aerate the ground and laid a layer of topsoil/compost, then planted store-bought starts. Put cardboard ON TOP of the open areas as a mulch, then covered this with wood chips. The rain keeps washing the wood chips away! I realize this is a rookie problem, but as I have had limited time and $$ to get the garden going I need to know how to keep the wood chips on the garden, or a better method of quick mulching.

If you have difficulty keeping it mulched I would go with a living mulch like clover. Great nitrogen fixation and whenever you want to plant something you just rip a clump out. The roots will help keep the soil together and give you tons of green manure for future expansion.

The cardboard is probably creating run off issues and taking your mulch with it. Lots of people forget to stab holes in the cardboard so if you have not done that it will help (and it is important to help get air to the soil too). If you did do that maybe leave the cardboard out next time and use more wood chips instead. You don't really need cardboard to suppress a lot of weeds except particularly vigorous ones like bindweed.

Ahhh! Thank you!! Ill poke some holes. I really dont know my new property well yet, but in my neck of the woods, ALL weeds are particularly vigorous. All it takes is one good rain and the grass grows a foot overnight! Thank you for your response. I may try some topsoil over the cardboard between the cardboard and the mulch as well. Ill let you know my results!

Clover is a great idea too! Is it a good time to plant clover? My soil will be bare until it sprouts...or should I make plans to sow clover for next year? Thanks so much for yalls replies!!