That's high on my list before winter actually hits and it turns too wet to do much. I try to clean off an area I'll be planting my cool weather stuff (beets, peas, carrots, potatoes, cole crops, and such) in the fall so it doesn't take long for me to get it planted when I have a window. My problem in the spring is not that I get a window warm enough, it's that I get a window dry enough. Sometimes that dry window is only a day or two long.
I clean an area up and spread wheat straw mulch over it. It's often warm enough here I get weeds growing in late winter. So I just rake the mulch off (it needs to dry a bit after since mulch holds the moisture in), prepare it, and plant it. Being ready can make a few weeks difference in when I can get that cool weather stuff started.
You are right, nature abhors a vacuum. if we don't have the ground covered with crops or mulch she'll sprout weed and grass seeds as soon as weather allows.