Yes, the garden fills itself with unmulched leaves, no hauling required due to our massive maple, linden and ash trees. The remains of the perennials, standing 1-2 feet high, hold them in place, and protect plants and soil from the freeze-thaw cycle. In the Spring, I pull out the blower, blow them into the yard, and run the mower over them & throw them back in the beds. MUCH easier than the old rake-and-bag gig. And almost never need to fertilize any of the beds - just a few pick plants. The only downside is that I used to use pine bark nuggets as mulch, which were slippery for the deer to walk on, so they stayed out of the beds and only nibbled what they could reach from the edges. Now they wander through at will, sampling everything!
Sue