Continuing the ideas presented by the book I introduced here, all cultivated plants in temperate zones can be placed into two categories:

1. Plants whose root systems thrive in soils with bacterial dominance
2. Plants whose root systems thrive in soils with fungal dominance

These two categories are in order of plant succession discussed here. Additionally, the plants that fall into the second category are those with woody stems, most notably brambling berries, shrubs and trees. Non woody stemmed plants like annual vegetables align with the first category.

It is this bit of information that opens up a world of biological thinking to successfully cultivate plants. Mulching is the largest variable within our control to provide soil dominated by the microbes in which individual plants most thrive. This will be the focus of the bulk of the discussion.