Start keeping an eye out for mulching materials. People are doing yard clean-ups so there are bags of old leaves out. (scan the yard and make sure there are lots of trees or there might be weeds mixed in).
Don’t collect grass clippings now, except to add to compost bins. They will be full of spring weed seeds. Wait until grass has had a chance to really take over. Pine straw is fine, just spread a bit of lime first to sweeten the acidity of the pine, to make it agreeable for veggies. (chickweed is a great barometer of soil health. If the chickweed is tiny and scraggly, soil is weak. Big robust plants and leaves mean the soil is nutritious. Compost that chickweed!)
Bark or wood chips must be countered with nitrogen! If you mulch with wood shavings, saw dust, etc, you must somehow add nitrogen, like horse/cow manure, or your veggies will suffer loss of this vital nutrient. Wood takes nitrogen in the decomposing process. (That’s why you can’t grow grass around an old tree stump area).