Steve, I'd consider mulching. That mulch can rot down during the winter and greatly improve your soil. When I was in seminary I had a garden in IN, and I used to mulch at every opportunity. Or you could plant a green manure crop. How about vetch?

George
Tahlequah, OK

You could plant rye, vetch, winter peas. You can purchase seeds on line in smaller quantities. I bought a five pound sack of cover crop mixed seeds for $5 called GardenWay. Your 12-12-12 is a chemical fertilizer, am I right? Such fertilizers feed plants, not soil. Best to use that when you are actually growing plants. But the other steps you are taking will improve your soil which is a good thing. If you can get a cover crop going, you will mow it next spring, then dig in the clippings and the stubble as green manure. If part of your cover crop is legumes (vetch, winter peas, etc.) you will have given your soil a good nitrogen fix.

The soil has to be warm enough for seeds to sprout, so you want to get them into the ground ASAP. We just had our first light frost here in central New Mexico. If you can't do a cover crop because cold weather has already set in, you can lay down a layer of 9 newspapers or so, then top that with mulch. That will prevent weeds from sprouting next spring. You don't want to use mulch which has large wood chips in it. Wood in soil depletes the nitrogen, plus wood mulch gives pest insects great hiding places. Good luck!
Lorna

Mulched leaves are nice and don't blow away like loose whole leaves. Cover crops like rye or wheat can still be planted, but I would suggest planting only half the garden to them at most as sometimes they can be issues when it comes to the early crops you may want to plant.

There are some cover crops which will die over the winter in your climate, and which should be easy to find locally. Annual Rye GRASS (not the grain Rye) is one that would work. Or, you could go the grocery store or a natural foods market and get any of the following: Oats, Fava Beans, Lentils, Whole (NOT SPLIT) dried peas. Any of the above make a good cover crop and will die in the cold of winter, leaving a mulch to till in in the springtime.

You're getting lots of excellent advice above!

With frosts, oats would die down and leave a nice layer of straw to protect your soil (provided the oats had enough time to grow and produce some bulk prior to the killing frosts).

Winter/field/Austrian peas are often planted together with oats. Together they provide winter cover, green manure, and nitrogen. Peas are hardy and would continue to grow in the spring.

With only three peas per pod, these peas are not worth growing for edible peas. But they produce good bulk for turning under and for making jummy soil for your other crops.

Another cover crop that lasts through the winter is rye. Some people claim that rye reduces pest nematodes, but that view is apparently not agreed to by all.

Like others have said, leaves (especially shredded) make superb mulch and, in my experience, are easy to rake out-of-the-way come spring planting time.

Unfinished compost left on top of the soil over winter also make an excellent mulch, as does raw horse manure.

Good luck with your garden!

Here is a link that might be useful: Soil Forum