Yes we use mulch though not woodchips this year on this garden. Im using woodchips on smaller trees as needed. We are using lots of carboard to recycle it between rows. There is many layers of decomposed mulch underneath. Originally i established this garden using hay as mulch. Ruth Stout famous gardener and author is one of the people who inspired me. This garden also has used wood chips and leaves. Many believe Amazon is evil but they saved me on many occasions during the pandemic when i could get nothing from noone. My doctor said i could not go to stores at that time and everyone else would not deliver to me or was out of everything. Before i make amazon out to be the night in shining armor that saved me i paid ridiculously high prices for those items like toilet paper, vitamins, supplemental food (it was winter and i was very ill). It’s the laws of supply and demand and it will be worse next winter with the terrible droughts around the world. Canada is excessively dry right now your smart preserving every drop of your water. Get your supplies together and be prepared with greens seeds. Im not trying to make anyone panic just pointing out Kansas though wet this year so far is the exception its dry in most food producing locations. If the crops are small around the world we need to be prepared for that. Hopefully im wrong. Parts of Kansas are very dry but we are fortunate and get 34" per year. Here is the downside many times in my location we get it almost all at once twice a year spring and fall. Then i sit on the water when i need it https://growingfruit.org/t/ponds-are-a-great-investment/7033 . This thread will make sense Strange weather will it get our blooms & fruit 2018? . The weather is extreme here as can be seen here by 2017 and 2018 A dry year in Kansas . A few pictures as reminders and my sympathy for those of you in Canada going through these difficult dry times believe me i do understand. So far this year Kansas is a mostly wet paradise.
Im very fortunate some parts of the state get around 20"
@39thparallel and @Olpea though fairly nearby are in a much nicer climate as shown by the maps