HI Leela,
    Thank you for contacting ask extension with your question about wet soil.   These beautiful spring days make many of us eager to get out and start gardening,  but (digging/tilling/turning) soil when it’s wet commonly causes compaction and poor soil structure, and that damage can be hard to reverse. Compaction reduces pore space (air), drainage rate, and negatively impacts root growth conditions.  
Here are a couple tests you can do to determine if your soil is dry enough to start working.
1. Squeeze/“mud ball” test: Squeeze a handful—if it stays in a tight mud ball, it’s too wet; if it crumbles freely, it’s about right
2. Ribbon/ball tests: If you can press out a long “ribbon,” or if a 2-inch ball holds together when tossed, soil is too moist to work.

Compost can help overall soil health long-term, but it won’t reliably “undo” compaction created by digging/stepping/working wet soil. Don’t aggressively mix compost into wet soil (or keep “working it” to try to improve it). That tends to worsen structure when it’s wet and can leave cloddy, compacted soil.

It's a good idea to top-dress with compost later (after things dry out a bit) and you have planted: spread a layer on the surface and let soil organisms gradually incorporate it. 
Hope this helps!
Happy gardening  

What about trees that need to go in right now?

If the soil is wet/soggy, the safest approach is usually to wait to plant (to avoid root suffocation and soil structure damage). Here are practical options depending on how wet it is and how urgent the planting is:

Options when you can’t wait
1) Plant now, but “minimal disturbance”

• Dig only the hole you need, plant, and backfill—avoid broad digging/tilling or mixing amendments into wet soil. Tillage/cultivation when wet is a major driver of compaction.
• Minimize foot traffic over the wet bed (work from boards or a path) to reduce compaction risk. 
• After planting, you can mulch the surface (not piled against stems/trunks) to protect soil and help moderate moisture swings. 

2) “Heel in” the plants temporarily (when the permanent spot is too wet)
Heeling in means planting temporarily—basically “parking” plants in the ground in a protected spot until conditions improve, so roots don’t dry out or the plants become stressed.

How to heel in (simple version):

1. Pick a temporary spot that’s sheltered from wind/sun and not prone to standing water.
2. Dig a trench or a wide hole deep enough to cover the root systems (or set pots in the ground).
3. Set the plants in and backfill/mound soil around the roots so they’re fully covered and won’t dry out.


4. Water enough to settle soil around roots, then keep them from drying out while they wait. 

3) Hold in containers (short delay) with good drainage
If your plants are in pots and you only need to wait a short time, keep them in a protected area and make sure the pots have good drainage so roots don’t sit in water. 
Hope this helps.

Your welcome! The forecast predicts a week of no rain. That should help!