Trees like a more fungal system; annuals like faster bacterial cycling

Orchard rows and shrubs generally do better with stable surface cover, less soil mixing, and woody residues. Salad beds, maize, and many annuals generally do better with quicker-cycling compost and frequent living roots.

You still want both bacteria and fungi in every bed. The mix shifts. Do not rotovate an orchard like a seedbed, and do not expect a vegetable row to thrive under a thick uncomposted chip mat.

If fruit trees yellow after clean cultivation, missing fungal cover is one place to look. If an annual bed sits cold and woody, the cover may be too slow for that crop.

In this series

• Treat soil as a living web, not an inert bag of fertilizer
• Roots feed microbes; microbes then feed roots
• Compost feeds life, not just NPK numbers
• Keep soil covered so organisms can work
• Heavy tillage breaks fungi, worms, and structure
• Trees like a more fungal system; annuals like faster bacterial cycling