November, north of the equator

November is when the bare root catalogues arrive and the garden becomes worth planting again rather than worth tidying. The leaves are down, the shape of everything is visible for the first time since April, and the soil is still workable in most weeks. Indoors, the year has effectively ended, and the best thing anyone can do for a houseplant this month is less.

In the garden

Plant bare root. Roses go in at leaf fall, and trees, shrubs, hedging, fruit trees, raspberry canes, blackcurrants and rhubarb crowns are all lifted and sold now. The only conditions are that the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. Firm everything in properly, because winter wind rocks a loose plant and the roots never take hold.

Plant tulips, which are better now than in September, and get any remaining bulbs in the ground. Sow broad beans and hardy peas for an early crop, and plant garlic if you missed October. Move deciduous shrubs that are in the wrong place, because now is the one month of the year when they will hardly notice being lifted.

Protect what needs it. Lift dahlia tubers after the first blackening frost in cold or wet gardens, dry them off and store them somewhere frost free. Raise pots onto feet so they drain, because winter wet kills far more container plants than winter cold ever does.

In the house

Water sparingly. The interval is close to its longest now, and cold wet compost in a dark room is the single commonest way a houseplant dies between November and February. Feel before you pour, every time.

Get the plants as close to the glass as they can be without touching it, and clean both sides of the window. Stop feeding almost everything. Keep an eye on the plants near radiators, which will be showing crisp edges by December if nothing changes.

Pot up amaryllis if you have not already, and bring in the hyacinths that have had their cold dark spell. They are the two plants that give something back in the middle of winter, and both were set up weeks ago.

What not to do yet

Do not repot, prune or feed. Do not water on a schedule. And do not be alarmed by a few lost leaves this month, because a plant shedding two or three older leaves as the light goes is doing what it is meant to do.