10 Years With Wood Chips In Our Garden- What I Learned

I first put wood chips on our garden about 10 years ago. In this video, I'll tell you what wood chips have done for our garden, and show you what happened when I stopped using them for a short while.
One thing that I failed to mention in the video is that there are some trees to avoid when using wood chips. Some of those are Black Walnut, Eucalyptus, and Tree of Heaven. Also avoid using chips from treated wood or wood pallets which could have been exposed to chemicals. Just stick with arborists wood chips, and you should be fine. That way, they can tell you if there were any trees cut that should be avoided. In this case, I'm using chipped up Christmas trees. The vast majority of trees are fine.
Using wood chips as mulch in a vegetable garden offers a powerful combination of moisture retention, weed suppression, and long term soil improvement. By covering the soil, wood chips help lock in moisture, reducing how often you need to water. They also create a physical barrier that makes it harder for weeds to germinate and compete with your crops. As the chips slowly break down, they mimic the natural forest floor, enriching the soil with organic matter and supporting a thriving ecosystem of beneficial microbes and insects. This gradual decomposition improves soil structure, boosts fertility over time, and helps create a healthier, more resilient garden overall.