I don't know if the peat moss will improve your garden soil that is "already pretty good." However, if you know someone who is getting set up to grow blueberries, they will surely put the peat to good use.

Add some nutrients to counter adding the peat moss which has none and will require a lot for the soil bacteria to even begin digesting that stuff.

Milled sphagnum moss is not the same as peat moss.

Peat moss is decomposed sphagnum and other mosses plus sedges and grasses and other herbaceous stuff.

Here in the Great Northwest sphagnum grows on everything that doesn't move too fast. You can just go out into the forest and grab up handfuls of the fresh green stuff.

Nurseries sell bales of green, undecomposed sphagnum. It's not peat yet, won't be for millenia.

I would not use peat in the soil here. Stays too soggy in winter and repels water in the dry summers. Milled sphagnum could be mixed in with the compost but it will have the same water repelling properties when bone dry. People do use it as a top dressing for seedlings and rooting cuttings for its antimicrobial properties, don't know how effective it really is but it doesn't hurt. Just don't let it dry out or you'll never get it damp again without drowning your seedlings.

Unmilled sphagnum is used of course for lining moss baskets. Don't know if the milled stuff will stick together enough, probably not.

What was your friend using it for?

reg-
Thanks for the detailed info. My friend simply had it in his garage and asked me if I wanted it when he moved. It's never been opened so I don't know why he had it. Although I've got quite a few seedlings, it will take me about 1000 years to use it all as a top dressing for them. That's why I was looking for alternative uses...

I use this stuff for my orchids and have been experimenting with using it in other houseplants and they love it. It has great water retaining properties. Maybe hanging baskets?

My understanding to date:

-I can use it on my seedlings to cut down on mold

-I can use it in hanging baskets and house plants

-I should probably not mix it in to my garden soil.

Any other ideas? I am starting a composting bin. Can I mix it in with that material?

If it was my bale, I would mix it into my soil in hopes it would help retain soil moisture thru our hot dry summers. I doubt it would acidify most soil to the extent plants would be harmed, it certainly would not hurt my limestone soil. If you have acidic, boggy soil, better use it somewhere else. A lot of garden authors recommend it and apparently use it with only good effects.

If your looking to get rid of it, throw it in the compost bin, lawn, or garden bed. The small amount that you are talking about will not harm or help much. Unless you pile it on yard, you're not going to see a big ph dip.

What kind of peat moss you have, sphagnum or reed or sedge, depends on which plants grow in the bog the peat comes from. Sphagnum Peat Moss and Sphagnum Moss are one and the same thing and are non renewable resources the harvesting of which destroys major habitats.