I need some soil building advise
hiya, I'm in 8a central Mississippi. I am impulsive and I saw the city guys trimming the trees and now I've got about a half dump load of mulch. My partner was not nearly as thrilled as I was by this acquisition and now I need to make something happen asap to justify this and also because it's just sitting right there... It's a mix of chunks, twigs, to pieces that resemble commercial mulch. So far we've put cardboard overlapping and 2 or 3 inches of this mulch on top of that. That place is about 14x14 feet and I've got a pretty good size pile left. And now I don't know what to do. Everything I read says it'll take at least 4 weeks to break down if I layer some mulch with grass clippings and leaves etc before I can plant into it. Is there a way to fast forward? Could I for instance layer some torn up cardboard with some smaller mulch and then put wetted alfalfa pellets down and then put a few inches of finished compost from the local nursery on the top and plant into it? I do have 2 raised beds that are 3x6 and that is where I'll try to build soil right now. I plan to expand the site depending on how far the mulch goes. I will buy some starts and some seeds and I don't know if that'll make a difference in how long until I can use the beds. I would like to plant some things like okra, and a few perennials in the spots without beds but I think those can be planted immediately since the native soil is just a few inches down?
I'm pretty sure this is going to be a time vs money situation, but given how late in the season it is what is the better option? I want to build fertile soil that will improve over time, but I also really want to plant. Does anyone have suggestions or advice? Thank you