How far will my compost go?

[Sheepish]

This is a real beginners question, and I have searched without finding answer.
After quite a wait I've now got a dustbin full of well rotted compost (and another not far behind). What I don't know is how much I should apply to a given area of veg patch. I don't want to spread it so thin it has no effect or overdo it. I'll be growing things such as runner and dwarf beans, spuds, salad veg, courgettes, sprouts.

[zazen999]

Ok.

As this is the spring, and you haven't got the winter for it to work, I'd suggest using it when you plant out, not as a mulch. Also, for the hole that you put your spuds in and to earth up. Plenty to go into the holes that the beans and squashes [courgettes etc] go in.

Whenever you dig a hole for anything, dig it a bit deeper, add a shovelful of your compost, fork it in, and use a mix of your own soil and the compost to backfill each hole.

It soon gets eaten up esp if you have lots of spuds to earth up.

[Capsid]

That's good advice from Andrea. You should do this as a matter of course when planting out anyway, I would also add a sprinkle of chicken pellets.

As a gauge though, when you dig a trench for autumn digging, this can be filled with a layer of compost and then the soil dug from the next trench used to backfill. It doesn't last long and I don't think you can ever dig too much in.

[Sheepish]

Thanks for the advice guys. It occurs to me I might get my hands on more compost soon as the council usually brings a truckload from its central composter allowing people to get a couple of bags for free. I'll have rather more from this autumn onwards as I've cleared more space for a heap than I had last year.