Pull back the mulch when direct sowing or transplanting small seedlings, push it back into place when your young plants have gained some size and vigor. One of the reasons for mulching is to cover and keep weed seeds from germinating, it will do the same for your ornamental/desireable seeds - so move it out of the way temporarily.

You'll probably get a little less reseeding, but most of your seeds are probably falling now, after you've already put the compost down, right? I had quite a few volunteers on top of a wood mulch that was put down last spring, and I'm sure that your compost would be a much more favorable material for growth. As long as the seeds are watered in either now or with winter rains and snow, I would think that you would get plenty. I find that my mulch has primarily slowed down the seeds that were in the soil underneath, so I have fewer weeds. Mulching has too many benefits not to do it, and you'll be able to fill in with wintersowing if you have any bare spots.Just collect the seeds of some reseeders as insurance.

Ricky, it means basically once the snow has melted, ground has thawed, and the soil surface has dried out. It's not ideal to work in wet soil if you can at all help it. A bit moist underneath is fine. If the seeds are recommended for direct sowing by a Northern-knowledgeable source then they will be fine with a few frosts or snowfalls after they have sprouted. This is the same principle as wintersowing. Direct sowing is good for some plants that don't like transplanting, and also reach maturity quickly therefore there is no great advantage to wintersowing. However, some things may be recommended for direct sowing that don't have time to reach maturity and bloom in our climate. Around here it is usually around early May that I direct sow stuff like Batchelor's Buttons and Love-in-a-Mist. If you have questions on specific seeds, just ask.

Letting this drop down the list.