Silly question, but if we cover your gardens with wood chips to protect and preserve them over the winter, we need to somehow remove and shovel up the wood chips when Spring comes around or do they mix into the soil?
Wood chips can decompose in the soil. However, in the winter decomposing takes a long time. Therefore, you will have to shovel and then mix the chips in the soil so that they decompose faster.
A light layer would work if you don't want to shovel. You can also try raked leaves as they would decompose faster than wood chips. What I've done is remove the majority & then mix them in.
