Remove dead leaves from perennial vegetables and flowers that have finished blooming. Rake up plant debris and compost it. Take a stiff garden rake to the lawn to clean it up. Apply lime or sulfur if a soil test indicates you need it. Use a leaf rake to clean under shrubs and trees - fertilize with phosphorus and potassium every fourth year.
Rake leaves out of ground-cover beds.
Hoe garden beds to remove weeds and their seeds. Get rid of as many weed seedlings as you can, and apply compost to all beds. Cut down weeds gone wild in hedgerows and alongside your garden - this will deny insects a winter home. Compost all weeds but those obviously infested with bugs or blighted by fungus. Clean out your finished compost to use for mulch, then make more with the debris you've harvested.