an amzing question like this doesn't belong in the tags 💚
i see a lot of abandoned raised beds in many peoples yards. ones that they made in 2020 and haven't touched since. i even have some raised beds of my own i didn't use at all last year. the reason this question is amazing is because soooo many people think that no matter the age they can just patch up the sides, dust it off metaphorically, stick a plant in it... and then wonder what the heck is going on and why the plant dies.
it's because the soil is dead 💀
soil should never be left "uncovered" while in dormancy; typically you cover soil with mulch via leaves, wood chips, or a tarp to protect the mycelium and other soil guts and bacteria. if this step is skipped, or it's been quite a few years since you did this, then the first layer of soil gets too exposed to the elements, removing those ceucial components that make it alive. the longer it's been, the thicker the dead layer is.
side note: this is why container gardening is so tricky. each pot is not connected to The Soil Network(TM) thus making fertilizers and amendments more and more necessary as time goes on.
what you do to revive a raised bed is to resuscitate the soil! compost is what restarts any soil ecosystem. the amount of adding conpost depends on how deep the raised bed is as well as how long it has been since it was used.
once the snow is cleared, clear away any large items - sticks, stones, bones... and put them all in a separate compost pile. leave whatever shrubs or plants you'd like, or if you remove some then chop the hell outta them and throw them in the compost pile. we're going to be adding a faster compost to the raised bed and while these large pieces are amazing, we don't need them slowing down our rsusitation order. loosen up the top layer very well, get that oxygen in there and everything nice and exposed. water, and then level it out but dO NOT PAT IT DOWN!! need that oxygen and water to stay.
time to mow the leaves you were told by social media to leave it be. keep the mowing to high traffic areas - majority of the hybernating bugs wouldn't make their home next to the highway system aka where you walk every day, so it's fine if a tiny bit gets mowed. just leave the leaves around the back or edges of the property* and you won't get pitchforks thrown at you on facebook. this is all done by ear - depends on how much leaves you have to mulch, the square footage you need to cover, and how long the bed has been dormant. there's no such thing as too much and there's always time to add more when the plants are added in the spring.
since we are fast-tracking this for this year, do cover with a tarp. opaque tarp if you don't care if what was there before grows again, clear top if you want to kill or steralize any seeds from what was there before. i personally never use clear tarp... but mentioning because i know some larger farmers who do. the tarp keeps the moisture and as much heat as possible in and the mycelium and bacteria to come to the surface to feed on all this new delicious compost. they don't like the sun and neither do i so i mean i can't blame them for wanting it dark.
doing this work - fast tracking compost as a resuscitation method for the soil - now or asap instead of the spring means less transplant shock for the transplant and less money spent trying fertilizers to keep the plant alive when the real issue is the soil needing to be alive.
*if you don't have a yard with a lot of leaves, then either ask for a chip drop to drop off leaves or find a neighbor who only grows non-native 'too green to be real holy crap why do you do this' and offer to mow their lawn. bugs won't hibernate where there is no food, either.
