Two words: water and weeds.
Depending on your community garden's set-up, watering your plants can be a time consuming and never-ending battle. In my experience, mulching deeply with 6-12 inches of straw will conserve a tremendous amount of water and reduce watering frequency.
If watering is not an issue, then weeds will likely take up most of your gardening time. Contrary to other gardeners with a loathing of weed pulling, I enjoy removing weeds but it takes time away from thinking about succession planting schedules, harvest plans, etc. Mulching at the aforementioned depth will also do a good job of suppressing weed seed germination.
Avoid underestimating the gardening time black hole of weedy pathways. There is nothing more frustrating then spending valuable time weeding the paths. The list of path weed control is almost endless: newspapers (not a fabulous solution), carpet remnants (These will work in my experience but eventually a determined weed will overcome the barrier), and straw. In regards to wood chips, check your garden bylaws because many gardens prohibit the use of wood chips. Landscape fabric is another viable option but do not cheap out, you will regret it later in the season.
If you decide not to mulch, the key to keeping weeds manageable is to remove weeds at the seedling stage. To cleanly remove the unwanted seedlings, slice the weeds just below the soil surface. This is important because many weed seeds occupy the first three inches of the soil stratum. Hoeing too deeply will bring these weed seeds closer to the surface where they can germinate and create havoc in your neatly tended garden beds.
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