New to this- lockdown activity

[tallah]

So my garden is a new concept to me. Moved Oct and have not had to touch it but now it's clear it's needing some attention. All the plants at the sides are dead, were in full bloom when I moved tho. Is that normal? Will they just come back in spring or should I do something to them? I'll obviously cut the grass but just not sure how to make this look neat and fresh and thought now was a good time to start since I won't be going anywhere. Thanks all

All the plants at the sides are dead, were in full bloom when I moved tho. Is that normal? Yes. There's several groups of plants:
annuals - grow and flower in one year then die
biennials - grow one year, flower the next, then usually die
perennials which die down to ground level over winter and regrow next year
perennials which lose their leaves in winter then grow new leaves in spring
perennials which lose their leaves a few at the time over the year, so in winter they've got as many leaves as in summer - "evergreens".

Try not to do too much in the first year, see what you have in the garden first.

If you want to prune, a rule of thumb is to do it after flowering - this gives maximum time for the plant to produce flowering stems for the next year.

@MereDintofPandiculation Thanks so much