A common criticism of wood chips is that they look messy. Which they pretty much do. If I had fancy ornamentals or something I might consider something nicer. But I kind of like the wild look. Also, fresh arborists chips contain a lot of green matter which decompose quickly and provide a big shot of nutrients right away. So I'm fine with the messy look.
In the back corner of my yard is an area that I've kept covered with chips for years. It is a bit shady, and just not where I grow stuff, so I just chip it to keep the weeds down. And because I usually get more chips dropped than I need (sometimes way more than I need), the excess goes back in that corner. A while back my neighbor gave me some rhubarb plants and so I put them there because that's where I had space. Now, the soils in my yard are glacial outwash. Dense, gray, silty, sandy gravel for the most part. Not much organic matter and generally not that great of soil. But as I was digging down, the soil underneath the chipped area was rich and dark brown, going down a couple feet. I planted the rhubarb and it went gangbusters. I get four big harvests a year. I've never fertilized, which everyone says you have to do with rhubarb, because I don't think I could handle them growing any faster. I just keep the area chipped and they go nuts. Chips are a great way to build soil by doing nothing.
@Dicey a few years ago I got an absurdly large chip drop in the summer. The pile got so hot it was radiating heat. I don't think it was smoking, but it was visibly steaming. I totally see how it could spontaneously combust.
