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But compost, manures and other soil improvers need to be used with care and well before planting. Sometimes adding all this goodness to the soil can make it soil so full of nutrients, especially nitrogen, that germinating seeds and seedlings suffer root burn as a result.
Generally, if your soil needs to be enriched or replenished, then the time to do it is at least 6 to 8 weeks before planting, so the manures etc have a chance to break down a little and become fully incorporated into the soil. Mid-to-late winter is the time to prep soil for spring and summer planting.
After you have added soil improvers, compost or manures (you should not need to add all of them if your soil is reasonably good) the soil should be dug over several times over the following 6-8 weeks to ensure everything that's been added is well worked through the soil. Turn the soil over to a depth of at least 45cm each time.
If you are concerned about your soil quality or plants are struggling to grow, I suggest starting by testing the pH of your soil. The use of fertilisers, composts and manures can make the soil quite acidic over a period of years and that will have a large bearing on the availability of various nutrients in the soil. Some elements become chemically bound up in the soil at specific pH levels thus making them unavailable to pants, while others are freed abundantly and can cause toxicities.
Ideally the pH of you soil should be in the 6 to 6.5 range. If the number is lower than that then your soil would benefit from a dressing of garden lime. About a handful per square metre over the soil and allowed to work its own way in via rainfall and watering. This is best done in winter while the soil is fallow between crops. - Noelle
