A mulch is basically anything that you lay over the top of the soil with the intention of suppressing weeds. The usual options include plastic sheets, landscape fabric, rubber pieces, paper products (newspaper or cardboard), bark, rocks and wood.

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In addition to reducing weeds you hope to also reduce water evaporating from your soil to make better use of your irrigation. There aren't many mulches that can do that without preventing the critical gas exchange and critical water infiltration necessary to support soil critters and roots. Inhibiting air and water movement results in declining plants.

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But a mulch can do so much better. It can greatly reduce soil compaction, moderate soil temperature fluctuations and feed the soil for years, the latter fantastically reducing the need for soil amendments.

 

A couple mulches can reliably do one or two of these things, but only one mulch always does all of those: arborist chips.

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Below is my spitball matrix-o-mulches. Prices are from 2022. Arborist chips from www.GetChipDrop.com. Marks suppose that the mulch is applied correctly. The wavy lines mean...

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Here are more details on my understanding of mulches.