If you are a gardener, you may associate a great garden with lots of hard work and effort in the springtime, but you can actually increase your garden's chances of success by putting in a bit of extra work at the end of the growing season.  By doing a few simple chores in the fall you can "close out" this year and get your soil ready for next year, while at the same time making it easier to get plants in and growing when spring comes.

The first step is to clean your garden thoroughly of any leftover plant matter.  Use a garden rake and your hands to remove all leaves, stalks, or flowers, which may have fallen on the ground.  In addition to the left over debris being unsightly, it also provides nesting spots for all kinds of harmful insects.

You should also be wary of putting this debris in your compost bin, because the bin may not develop enough heat to kill off these pests.  Once you have removed the debris, turn the earth over several times.  This will expose any burrowing insects to the elements, and will turn your mulch into the soil as well.