If you want to put some work in it, just rip stuff apart surrounding what ever you want to be safe, place the "weeds" you tear off on the ground surrounding the plant, will also gather additional water (dew) and hold water as well plus - it is free.^^ Besides it is more "airy", at least most of the time. :D
I know a big "chokeberry" (in german it sounds way more enjoyable^^) field close by and they never water it, at least the most part of the about 5y old field.
Drifting a little apart, but maybe this will leave you with a nice idea for somewhere else or in smaller dimensions for this area:
Everything that is done there in terms of "watering" is simply to use a kind of tiller to turn over the soil. In the end, the turf is folded like an "L" towards the plants (done from both directions), so that the dew collects there and the water stays in the soil for longer as well. Then, two to three times a year, they go along the plants and tear off or keep short everything that is not aronia. The torn-out stuff is also loosely spread around the plants to collect and hold even more dew. At least in our regions this is absolutely enough for these, as well as for many other plants. Right next to it there is a comparison field using drip-irrigation - the differences in terms of yield are minimal, if they exist at all.
But i can also understand if you use woodchips, way less work and yea, in 2y they will be most likely be gone anyways. xD
We would do a mix of grasses, flowers, and some bushes and tress. So there will be a mix of a little bit of everything.
Wish you good luck, waiting for updates. :)
Yea... those blackberries and their lovely torns... but at least i could harvest a lot this year - thought it would be great to harvest them, before cutting down at least most of it.^^