you can put it directly onto the soil, but you will be depriving any plants growing there of nitrogen, since the decomposition process requires it. You can get round this to some extent by applying a good sprinkling of Growmore or similar prior to applying the mulch.

or as you have the compost bin pop it in there for 6 months or so. I use empty compost bags to store it as I dont have space in the compost bins. but bamboo is right the fresh stuff will remove nutrients fro the soil.

omg Bamboo you are always so fast....thank you!! I was hoping you would say that, because my garden is so small I am thinking about getting rid of my compost bin, I would much rather use that bit of space for a potted plant as it is actually sitting on my cemented path. It is also a quick fix for preventing weeds, as many of my close neighbours don't tend to their gardens.

Another question if if you don't mind, my garden consists of your typical council house rubble type soil and is very grey, dusty and generally quite awful. I can't afford to buy tons of topsoil so was wondering how safe would it be to buy manure from local farms and let it rot somewhere?

Sorry Seaburngirl, I just missed your post as I replied to Bamboo. Ok well I guess I will have to decide if it really is worth buying Growmore and be more patient with my compost bin. As I have just said in my reply my soil is awful and I am looking for a quick fix, but I guess with gardening there are not quick fixes. And to make matters worse I stopped growing plants in pots because of vine weevil years ago, but I decided to pot up a small acer a few weeks ago only to find a weevil on my kitchen ceiling. Unfortunately I have to work with such a small budget which makes gardening a lot harder

Glad you're not considering topsoil, its nearly always rubbish, usually motorway spoil, and comes with its very own supply of pernicious weeds, not to mention mostly solid clay.
If you've a small garden I don't see how you're going to buy manure and let it rot somewhere. In fact, anything humus rich added to the soil will be of benefit, so things like spent mushroom compost, compost from your local recycling centre, leaf mould, soil conditioning compost from the garden centre, anything like that really. Horse manure can be bought composted ready for use from garden centres too.

Well I was thinking IF I do keep the compost bin maybe I could let the manure rot in there, but not sure if it needs more air than it would get in a bin. I just feel like it is going to take forever to improve the soil because of lack of funds. I am such an impatient person. I am starting all over again in my garden so just want everything to get off to a good start as I did very little to improve the soil first time around.

It's just that when I pass fields on a farm and I look at that beautiful light brown soil I am so envious.

Well thank you for the tips I will bare them in mind come spring.

Now to put the cat amongst the pigeons. I have always put the shreddings on the soil, no Growmore or Bonemeal and left them to get on with it. Unless your soil is already short of nitrogen then the amount taken out by the slow decomposition of woody material is negligible. This does not apply , by the way, to sawdust or wood shavings, they really DO take a lot of goodnss out of the soil, BUT, the semi-woody material produced from shredding prunings is normally not a problem at all.
When we are not ready to use the shreddings straight away I bag them in old compost bags and keep them, but rarely for more than a couple of months.

I agree with Owdb just mulch around your plants with or put on your woodland type paths.

Thank you everyone for your feedback. Having read all the for's and against here, I think the happy medium would be to place the shreddings on the soil but not actually close to the plants. My dirt area is 24' x 24' with no lawn or paths in between so as Moon grower says it will actually provide me with nice little dirt free paths to access all my plants.

Nearly all the shrubs and plants are new this year so using Growmore next year would be a good idea as well.