I dress plants with unfinished compost all the time. I deal with horse manure and stall leavings and since I don't turn my piles nearly as often as generally recommended I have the same consistency issue the OP describes--more thoroughly composted toward the center of the pile, less so as you get to the outside. I top dress my gardens with it every few months in the summer. If I don't like the "lumpy" look I toss an inch of pine bark fines over the top to dress it up. Not only have I not had a problem with it less than completely composted I've been known to take a shovel full of "muck" less than a day from the horse's stall, totally bypass the composting process and throw it straight on a few nearby rose bushes. I don't mix it into the dirt (that's when nitrogen tie up could possibly be an issue) and I keep it from actually touching the base of the plant. Also, I'd note that straw contains a chemical that resists the composting process so generally takes a bit longer than other things. (Sorry, I can't remember the name of the chemical.) But as someone else said you could use fresh straw as a mulch so a bit of uncomposted isn't going to hurt anything if you mulch with it.

Jenny, I've recently learned that unfinished compost prevents germination of seeds. I am planning to use unfinished compost on my garden beds in between the plants in the future to suppress weeds. Also, the bacterial activity in the compost might serve as a deterrent to wandering bugs like squash bugs. Short answer; I would deliberately use unfinished compost in the manner you are suggesting. - Paul M.

THANK YOU ALL -- and I had to laugh at the huge logs --- if wood chunks that large don't do damage... I image my little 2-4 inch pieces won't kill the plants. On the remaining 900 plants (yeah - we're pyscho - we have 1150 plants in all to plant), we switched gears and started using the finished compost (what the nursery was selling as top soil - but later explained was compost a year ago) in the holes. We mixed it with peat moss and in some cases vermiculite. We're going to use the remaining 15 cubic yards or so of the 'woody compost' (aka the compost I was freaking out about) on the TOP of the soil. We're thinking 1 to 2" of that followed by 1 to 2" of pine bark mulch for a max of 3" in total on top. We also bought some grass fertilizer for the bamboo -- the guy who sold us that recommended it anyways and supposingly its all nitrogen anyways. RUELLIA -- YES - it looks like that picture ...however, I specifically purchased "PURPLE SHOWERS" ..it was my understanding (dangerous internet surfer that I am) that Ruellia Brittanica 'Purple Showers' was "*STERILE*" so it did not spread like unnamed varieties. The nursery thought I was crazy (they said and I quote "we've never seen a sterile plant in our 10 years of being in business").. BUT I'm pretty sure one of the places I read about "Purple Showers" was on Gardenweb. Also Riverview Farms in FL also states Purple Showers is Sterile. I'm just hoping its not invasive. Billums_MS ... have you heard about Purple Showers being sterile (or less invasive) or do you think its all hogwash and I'm in deep trouble? I literally had 36 3-gallons planted right in the middle of our back yard. So if its invasive...boy will it wreak havoc here.

Yes, most everything that you mentioned will grow well in unfinished compost. I do that all the time, due to a variety of reasons. First, I like that I can get huge amounts of wood chips (the most acid of all organic amendments) for free, from tree companies. When they arrive, you have to put them somewhere, or your wife will divorce you, and that is on top of the beds. The chips are easy to move around with a pitchfork, whereas finished compost is much more of a pain (I produce small amount of finished compost for seedlings only). And the chips (or grass clippings, or leaves) do eliminate weeding, the chips for two years or so. Clippings and leaves, likewise, are easily movable with a pitchfork when they are still whole. Clippings go under plants as soon as they are produced, while leaves overwinter away from the garden only because piles of leaves turn into mice cities around here in the winter, otherwise they would go on the beds right away. Then you are left with the problem of having temporarily acid soil. For fruit trees and berries, that is not a problem. You will just mulch them with chips indefinitely, and they will be happy like that. I can guarantee that blueberries, raspberries, hardy kiwis, grapes, blackberries, pears, apples and currant are quite comfortable with wood chips only. All my flowerbeds and perennials get wood chips only, except irises and moonflowers, which need wood ash. The pH of the soil will rise as the matter decomposes, to the point where eventually the soil will get close to its original pH. There is a particular sequence that one has to follow to take advantage of this varying pH. Basically, amongst common veggies, potatoes will grow in wood chips that have been only slightly amended and are still too acid for most everything. In that soil, still not totally finished, the next year you will be able to grow tomatoes and squash and melons. The next year you can grow chicory (radicchio) and garlic. The next year you can try pole beans and collard. The next year the soil should be well done. Other large amounts of wood chips go well as a thick mulch (on top of finished soil) for tomatoes, all cucurbita, pole beans, collards, garlic and onions, and herbs. At the end of the season, I rake it in one pile at one end of the bed, and that will be a potato patch next year (repeat rotation). That is basically how I manage my soil. About 60% of my 8 beds were once wood chips. I use kitchen compost, which is quite N-rich, to correct the nitrogen deficiency of the chips. I also use urea and manure from my neighbor's horses, to the same effect (essentially N management). You have to add some N to unfinished compost, depending on its original green-brown ratio. You may have to add N for a few years. I use a lot of leaves, which produce nice, somewhat unfinished compost by May which is friendly to most vegetables. I particularly like leaves compost with lettuce. Finally, for some veggies even years later the soil remains a bit too acid. I add wood ash, which I have in great abundance. Virtually all veggies benefit from wood ash in my acid soil, but greens (arugula, rapini, bok choi, kale, tatsoi, spinach) and beets, in particular, can not grow without some. They prefer a more alkaline soil. I use wood ash basically for pH management. So most everything will grow well in the soil you have, if something looks poor, look up its optimal pH, then put lime or ash under it, on a case by case basis.