I go thru and pull out all the weeds, cut off the flowers on the perennials & cut their stalks down to 3", pull out the annuals totally. Some people say to leave the flowers on your Black-Eyed Susans,(for the birds to eat during the winter) but I don't, unless you want zillions of seedlings in the spring. I leave my vines on their trellises, it gives some winter interest. If they are annuals, I'll pull them off in the spring, perennials will get cut back in the spring. If you have any diseased plant material, don't compost it, put it in your garbage. If you have spring bulbs planted, a mulch can go on top of that area- like shredded leaves. In the spring you can then pull that mulch back as your bulbs come up.

If your garden has no plants left in it, say you had a veggie garden, you can improve your soil for next summer. Cover the soil with several layers of newspaper, then a 3 - 6" layer of shredded leaves, water it to keep the leaves from blowing and leave it. Over the winter the leaves will break down and enrich your soil. The newspaper will prevent any perennial weeds from germinating. You can plant right into your new happy soil. Or you can spread finished compost around your plants.

If you have a lawn mower you have the necessary tool to make shredded leaves. I'll bag them as I mow and dump in a pile. If the leaves are thicker on the lawn and you can't see any grass in between the leaves, you might want to mow them first, then go back over and mow again and this time bag them w/ the attached bag on the mower. I'll dump them on a tarp and then haul that either to the garden bed I want to dump them on or stash in a pile . The leaves will break down no matter where they are (spread on a bed or in a pile in your yard or added to a compost pile).

I am supposed to "do" something? It's lucky it gets planted in the spring!
Sandy