Stephen Albert
If Novem is the Latin word for nine, then why is November the eleventh month of the year?
It all started in 46 B.C, when Julius Caesar asked the astronomer Sosigenes to review the calendar and improve it.
Calendars are systems for measuring and recording the passage of time. Nature gives us a regular sequence of seasons. Since nature controls the supply of natural foods, a calendar was one way for humans to prepare for winter with a little forethought.
At first humans followed the solar year by the changing position of the moon and sun. The first calendar was a lunar calendar that noted the changing position and shape of the moon. That calendar came up about 11 days shorter than the true solar year.
The Romans borrowed their first calendar from the Greeks. The first Roman calendar had 10 months. Julius Caesar worked hard on the calendar. He’s the one who finally settled on twelve months. When that happened, November–which was once the ninth month–became the eleventh month.
Julius Caesar named a new month, July, after himself. The emperor after him Augustus Caesar named August after himself. When the Roman Senate offered to name a month after the next emperor Tiberius Caesar, Tiberius declined and quipped, “What will you do if you have thirteen emperors?”
November originally had thirty days, then the Romans calendar makers changed it to twenty-nine and then to thirty-one. Since the time of Augustus Caesar, November has had thirty days.
November is the month between autumn and winter. It is the month when the last leaves of autumn fall from the trees but the true cold and snow of winter has yet to arrive.
The Anglo-Saxons called November “the wind month”. This is the time of year when there is hazy sunshine and days can turn blustery.
November harvest in the Northern Hemisphere
Here is list of some of the vegetables and fruits that will come to harvest in November: Vegetables: beets (beetroot), broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrot, celeriac, chilies, Chinese cabbage, corn, kale, lettuce, parsnip, peas, peas, purslane, radish, rutabaga (Swede), spinach, turnips. Fruit: late apples, avocadoes, banana, feijoa, guava, early kiwifruit, kumquat, limes, melons, early mandarins, olives, late Valencia oranges, early navel oranges, late passionfruit, pomegranate, late raspberries, tamarilloes, tangeloes.
November planting in the Northern Hemisphere by region:
Cooler northern regions–Zones 3-6: Vegetables: cress, lettuce, shallots, spinach.
Temperate Regions–Zones 7-9: Vegetables: artichoke suckers, broad beans, cress, leek, lettuce, mustard, onion, peas, radish, shallots, spinach, spring onion. Herbs: caraway, chives, hyssop.
Subtropical and Tropical Regions–Zones 10-12: Vegetables: asparagus, beans, beet (beetroot), broad beans, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, cress, endive, lettuce, mustard, onion, spring onion, parsnip, peas, potatoes, radish, shallots, Swiss chard (silverbeet), spinach, strawberry runners, tomato, turnip. Herbs: angelica, basil, borage, caraway, celeriac, chervil, chives, coriander, dill, lemon balm, marjoram, oregano, parsley, salad burnet, thyme.
