November: garden and home jobs for this month

November is the month the garden stops growing and the house starts working harder, so the jobs split fairly cleanly into two piles: putting the garden to bed and checking the building can cope with what winter throws at it. Neither pile is urgent in the way a burst pipe is urgent, but both get more expensive to ignore the longer they wait.

Lawn and beds

If you haven't scarified or aerated the lawn already, November is late for it. Cold, wet soil doesn't recover well from being spiked or raked hard, so this is one job better left until spring rather than forced now. Mowing can usually stop for the year once growth slows, though a final cut on a dry day with the blades set high does no harm.

• Bare beds: a layer of mulching over borders protects roots from hard frost and suppresses weeds before they establish in spring
• Tender plants: anything not hardy needs overwintering now, either under fleece outdoors or moved into a shed, garage or porch
• Bulbs: tulips can still go in through November, which is later than most spring bulbs but suits tulips because it reduces the risk of fungal disease
• Fallen leaves: worth clearing off lawns and paths, but left in a heap they break down into leaf mould over a year or two

Fences, sheds and the shed roof

This is the month to check a shed can actually take a winter's worth of weather rather than discover it can't in January. Look at the roof felt for splits, check the door for swelling that will jam it shut once it's wet, and clear anything blocking the base so water doesn't sit against the timber. If the felt has failed, it's worth reading the guidance on shed and outbuildings maintenance before deciding whether a patch will see it through or the whole roof needs doing.

Gutters, downpipes and the roofline

Clear gutters now, before the last leaves come down and before the first proper frost. A blocked gutter overflows down the wall, and water running down brickwork for months is what eventually gets behind the pointing and causes the kind of damp problem that looks far worse than a gutter clear-out would have cost. While you're up there, or getting someone up there, check the fascia and soffit for soft or peeling paint, since that's usually the first sign water is getting in behind them.

Anything involving a ladder against a roofline, or work near a chimney or party wall, is a job for a qualified tradesperson. The risk isn't the skill required so much as the fall.

Damp, draughts and the boiler

If a room has felt damp or musty since the heating went back on, check for condensation on cold walls before assuming it's rising damp. Rising damp is comparatively rare and usually points to a failed or bridged damp-proof course, whereas condensation is common and is usually solved with ventilation. Get the boiler serviced this month if it hasn't been done already, since a fault found in November is an inconvenience and the same fault found in a cold snap in January is an emergency.

For the fuller list of jobs by area, the garden maintenance and home maintenance pages cover what's seasonal beyond November specifically, and December's jobs follow on from most of what's listed here.