Mushroom compost advice

[stuffys]

Evening everybody.

I am looking for some advice on using mushroom compost. Was lucky enough to get 8 ruble bags from someones bulk leftovers. I was planning to buy some around autumn time and add it to my raised beds at my allotment to improve the soil. The beds just don't seem to hold water that very well.

I have stored the compost inside my allotment shed(lovely smell), but was thinking about maybe using it now as a mulch with added benefit of it improving the soil as well.

Advice I am looking for-
Is it ok to mulch between seedlings eg carrots, turnips, onions now (they have only just come up)?
Wait until the plants get bigger then mulch?
Or should I just hold onto the compost and add it to the soil after the season has finished?

Thanks in advance for any help.
Michael.

[ameno]

You shouldn't mulch seedlings, as it may encourage damping off and will certainly encourage slugs, and you may also inadvertently just smother them.
Although I wouldn't recommend mulching root crops like those at all, as they don't see much benefit from it and it can encourage slugs to eat the roots, in the case of carrots and turnips, and fungal diseases, in the case of onions.

There are plenty of veg which would benefit from mulching with mushroom compost (or any compost or manure), though.
Any fruiting veg like beans, squash, courgettes, tomatoes, sweetcorn (not peas, though, it encourages root rots). Any tall-ish brassicas, like broccoli, kale, cauliflower (wait until the stems are about 1cm across before mulching, though). You can use it to earth up leeks, too.
If you have any soft fruit then that would benefit from it, too. But don't give it to raspberries, as they prefer slightly acid soil and mushroom compost is slightly alkaline.