This time of the year can be a little disheartening looking around at all the straggly, disheveled looking beds. It may not be quite the time to pull everything out and start again, but it could well be the time to tidy a few winter plants up to see if you can extend their growing season.
Consider your capsicums, eggplants and chillis, have a look to see if there is any green stem and if there is, it is telling you that the plant is still alive and may be encouraged to grow again. In these cases, clean the plant up, strip back dead leaves and trim off the dead wood. If you are in a cold area, do a small tidy and trim, not all the way back to the green yet. In warmer climates you can trim back to the green. Either way the bed will look a lot tidier, and you will feel as if you are winning rather than not!
Deadwood and leaves can be composted.
You may be lucky with the egg plants, which can grow in the same place year after year. I cover mine with a small hot house in winter to help extend the life into spring. But if it has died, rather than ripping it out, along with all the good stuff in the ground, cut it off from the base of the stem and leave the roots in the ground to continue giving life to the soil.
While you are there, weed, top up the soil with planting mix, and mulch to give them half a chance at a second life. Now there is no guarantee that the plants will come back to life, but why not give it a go and see if you can encourage another season out of them.
Enjoy!
Peter