Works in the Garden in November

Requested by one of our readers was an article about maintenance works throughout the year.

I thought it would be nice to make a monthly series out of this.
This is part 11, in which I talk about the works in November. You can find the other parts here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

Because the life of a gardener is tied to the weather and seasons, it is essential to mind the weather during each month described.

Japan is a long island, stretching from the North-East to the South-West and crosses several degrees of latitude. Plus it has a mountain range running from north to south, which will create different weathers in the west and east.
I will start each article with the average weather of that month focussing on Tokyo and Kyoto if possible.

The weather in November:
November marks the start of fall in Japan. Late November is one of the best times for viewing autumn foliage!
The temperatures ranging from 17°C (62°F) during the day to 12°C (54°F) during the nights and we have five hours of average sunshine each day.
The average rainfall is 89 mm.

Works, which will be done in November:

Removing Brown Leaves of Perennials
The leaves of the perennial plants should have died by now and can be removed. It is possible to put some mulching to shelter them from frost and to prepare the flower bed for next spring.

 

Planting Deciduous Trees
Deciduous trees, which already lost all their leaves by now, can be planted or transplanted to another spot at this time of the year.

 

Pruning Deciduous Trees
Because the stucture of the canopy can be best seen when all the leaves are gone, November is the time for starting pruning of deciduous trees. Dried and unneeded branches can be removed.

 

Putting on the Winter Clothes
Starting in November, the winter protection called yukizuri is put on trees and weaker shrubs and plants. The kind of protection varies from place to place. In regions with strong snowfall like Niigata, the protection is much stronger than in warmer regions like Tokyo.
You can read more about yukizuri in our blog post.

 

Lawn maintenance
The Japanese grass became dormant by now and direct maintenance isn’t necessary anymore. Weeds will use this chance to overgrow the lawn and the weeds should be picked accordingly.