Back when I worked at a greenhouse I heard some people complain that they had to buy more wood chip mulch or straw every year to re-apply it.
And yes! Good! It’s working! The soil microbes and fungi are Feasting and turning that wood into humus! That humus is now becoming soil full of bio available nutrients for your plants…and the things in the soil…to feast on! Go to the county landfill they chip up trimmings into FREE woodchips stop buying the stuff here that costs $2.99 a bag! Talk to some tree care companies they’ll be delighted to dump waste chips in your yard for you!
If your neighbors are Fools and rake up and discard leaves, grab that shit and use that too! And their grass clippings! Steal all that sweet sweet plant matter and let it rot into YOUR soil and enrich it! All Hail Rot, the one true god, which makes life on this ball of rock possible!