In todays episode of The Dark Souls runthrough, we're covering all 3 of the Darkroot areas.
Darkroot Garden
Darkroot Basin
Darkroot Forest
This area is not optional, but it can be done at any time - so you may wish to come back later to do it when it's easier. However, if you're good enough, doing it now will shorten the amount of distance you need to cover overall.
I have tried to keep this as spoiler free as I can, but there are minor spoilers in this video.
...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdrGUUAlUVs