I garden in raised beds and how I prepare the soil depends on what is being planted next year in each bed and if I'm going to plant an early, cool weather crop there.

For example, if I know I'll be planting tomatoes or peppers in a bed and no early crop, I may just chop the current plant residue, leave it on the soil, throw some compost or rotted horse manure on it and cover it with hay. When I rake the mulch off to warm the beds in May, the manure & plant waste is largely gone into the soil. (I won't need to till the bed next year beyond loosening it while I dig the hole to set the plant.)

If a bed gets an early crop of spinach or broccoli, I may dig the organic matter into the soil for faster incorporation. If a bed is slated to have potatoes, I won't add any manure to it, just dig in some compost.

It's good to plan next year's garden early during the current growing season so you have a good idea of what preparations will be best to perform when this harvest is over.

Half my beds are already tucked in under a cozy blanket of hay. The rest will be harvested and prepped soon. I try to cover all the beds with hay. I'm told it helps prevent erosion and that it keeps the soil microbes working longer into the fall/winter, breaking down organic matter. Mostly, I just like how tidy it makes the garden look before the snow falls.

Just a matter of opinion, but I like to leave all my plant waste laying on the garden all winter, then till it all in the spring. My veg garden soil, although it has been improved vastly over the years, tends to pack rock hard and I like the loose, newly tilled soil in the spring for planting.

I also don't have access to straw. I kinda wish I did.

I clean off the beds and take the remains and mulch them up with my lawn mower. I then till in any finished compost, leaves or even the minced up remains, fetilizer, manure, lime or whatever I am wanting in each raised bed. some years I put in nothing depending on what I am going to plant. Too rich of soil is not good for many cold climate crops. Now the bed is ready if I am planting a crop such as turnip that can be in the ground three weeks before the last crop. My soil is good and I don't have to till in the spring for anything. For peas and such I just till in the remains as they are high in organics and add anything else the soil might need for that year. I use fish in my compost so I don't need to add compost each year. I go every other year. I often till in leaves in the fall and they are always gone in the spring. I do not cover my beds with hay or anything. No need if there is no crop planted. In the north if we don't mince up the cabbage and other thick stemmed plants it will not be decomposed by spring and would be better of in your compost bin. I do mince up the compost also and already mine has rotted to slime from this falls waste. My soil has been added to and worked for many years so it is not hard from clay now. northspruce, we added leaves and Canadian peat to ours one year plus a small amount of sand and tilled the next spring and that was the end of the hard soil. Now the amendments are for nutrients only. I've had a great garden ever since and could plant it without tilling. Once the soil is great in raised beds you don't need to mulch even the perrenial things in the veggie garden. It thaws nicely. I am colder than most of you because I have to grow tomatoes in the greenhouse to get any sort of decent crop.

I tend to agree with Northspruce. I leave all my plant material on the garden...it holds the snow for moisture and seems to decompose over winter pretty good. Out at the ranch, on my half acre of veg garden, we have an enormous amount of stones, rocks and even boulders that seem to surface over winter so we do our cultivating in the spring to remove those stones. I also like to plant in newly cultivated soil.

Some are of the opinion that zero tillage is the way to go, but I have yet to agree with that. Weeds, (with added rotted manure) are also a big problem and I have found that I seem to have less of them if I only till in the spring...but there will always be weeds in our area of the country no matter how you cut it. LOL At least my cool season crops are usually up before the weeds and then I use my Mantis between the rows and hand pick the rest between plants. I have this personal idea that the weed seeds will freeze over winter if not tilled in, as opposed to fall tillage. Maybe I'm out to lunch I don't know, but it seems to work for me.

Any woody materials go into the compost pile. Some plants just don't break down too well at all no matter what.

Nice to hear what other people on this forum are doing with their soil.

Betty

I like to do it the "old fashion way", I think it's still the best way and it works for me.
And that is... plowing , just before freeze up, the soil will be turned mostly upside down, this way, I will have less weed germination in spring, the weed see being buried too deep.
Also, you will have less pest in soil like cutworms etc.
Last Year, I didn't get to do it because of a early cold spill and I sure noticed the
different. It will hold allot of moisture, because of very loose soil, in spring, the tilling is done with a breeze.
The ground is rich in organic matter, so have not done much in fertilizing, if I use any, I do it at growing season.

Konrad