One word of warning about wood mulch. It can harbor a very nasty fungus
called "artillery fungus." Artillery fungus sprays tiny protein spots
at anything within about 15 feet of the almost invisible fungus and
these spots, once they set within about 24 hours, are impossible to remove.

They can ruin car paint jobs, deface siding and end up costing you a
bunch of money.

We and our neighbors in a row of new homes had deep mulch on our
property that was the result of running the brush on the lot through a
wood chipper. We both ended up with artillery fungus infections that
caused us a lot of grief. I ended up having to spend a lot of money to
get it removed because there was about 1/3 of an acre of the stuff on my
property some of it almost a foot deep--and we needed heavy equipment to
remove it.

The artillery fungus grows in wood chips, especially those that are more
than 2 or 3 inches deep. It starts out as just a few specks that can
easily be mistaken for fly specs and ends up as a hail of brown spots
everywhere. There is NO product on the market that can remove it easily
once the protein sets.

So do NOT use woodchipper chips on your landscaping, especially not near
your house or drive way, and don't layer your mulch too deep!