Congratulations on having such a nice batch ready to use. Spread it whenever its convenient for you. It will do the garden good no matter what.

An advantage to spreading it in the fall is that you can go out in late winter to get a soil sample and have it tested. Then you'll have time to do any adjustment your soil needs before spring planting.

I'm going to spread mine in the fall mainly because it takes forever for a large pile to unthaw in the spring and I like to get going as soon as I can
And any runnoff of nuitrients will be in the garden at least
Wish we could play with the dirt in the late winter(:

Well, Mom Nature spreads her stuff in the fall and I guess that's the way to go. Organic growers try to imitate nature's way since so much grows around us with no attention whatsoever. No shovel there. Put your compost on the surface and let it work itself in - it will. It'll keep the weeds down, keep the soil cool, feed the lower soil, and it looks quite OK. Yes, it takes time, maybe a year, but you'll have some very healthy plants in the future.

Since the nutrients in compost are fairly stable you can spread your compost anytime you have it ready to spread and it would make little difference since the nutrients need the activity of the Soil Food Web to be made available to the plants. Spring, fall, now, then whenever you have some to spread.
If your compost pile freezes during the winter it may be too wet.

I also spread it just whenever it's finished or close to being finished. I used some this week just to make more room in my bins for new materials.

Karen

Don't worry about sun or shade for a compost heap, unless you are planning to grow something in it - put it where it is most convenient for you.

Wow,,,Thank you for all the great comments. I appreciate it. I guess I will give it a little more time and spread it on the garden in late september or early october before everything freezes.

Thanks again, Courtney