Back To Eden Project (What We Think Of It After Our First Season)

Two weeks ago I had a post on this subject drafted, almost ready to be published. I got too busy to finish the post, and then the information became obsolete. Had to start over.
I will say right off that if we had any problems with the woodchip mulch they all came from one problem. That is, the mulch kept the soil too cold this June and July. June was cold and rainy and everyone's garden looked cold and wet. July came in all her lovely, hot glory and the gardens took off. Except ours didn't. While others were harvesting green beans, ours were just blossoming. While others were harvesting cucumbers and zucchini, our plants were dropping unpollinated fruit right and left. Needless to say, I was sad. But then the beans began to look like this about the beginning of August. And they're still at it.
By the end of August, the potatoes finally perked up. This spring they were taking so long to emerge through the mulch that Jay thought maybe they were buried too deeply. So he scraped away some of the mulch for about half the plants. Ironically, when they did come up, it was the plants that he didn't help that thrived. The rest were stunted. In August, the stunted plants either died off, or took off. At least some of them look like this. The carrots were planted late. They're doing fine. They are so good; there is nothing like a fresh garden carrot.
I had sadly given up on the winter squash, the pumpkins, and the ornamental squash. They got big and spread out, but they seemed to just not pollinate. They say that they don't pollinate in hot weather. Sure enough, when it cooled off they began to set fruit. Sad, because I think they're out of time. If only they'd been ready to set fruit before it got hot. If I cover them at night maybe I'll get some....
Conclusion? I think we started out too cold this spring. We put the mulch down while it was cold and wet, and it stayed cold and wet for awhile after it was laid. I hope that this next year the soil and mulch will warm up a little more quickly. Maybe the soil won't get as cold this winter? Or maybe we can pull the mulch back from ths rows to warm the soil sooner. But really, I do believe that soil temperature seemed to be the only problem. I absolutely love the absence of weeds! We did have to do some watering. Every summer we have 4-6 weeks of sunshine without rain. The mulch helped us through that time for sure. We watered, but very little in comparison to most years.
Jay also has a row of baby trees, some blueberry plants, and I have flower beds that benefited from the mulch. It was so nice to see these things thrive instead of just "hang in there". And the herb garden? It went from a dusty weed patch to a bonafide overgrown mass of herbs.
And now for my true love: these too, waited until the last minute to do what they were meant to do, but oh the joy! :) :) :)