There is a particular sound to an orchard at harvest time.
The soft rustle of leaves overhead. The occasional thud of an apple falling into the grass. A blackbird disappearing through the branches just as you arrive with a basket.
By late summer and into autumn, trees that have spent months quietly getting on with the business of growing are suddenly impossible to ignore. Branches bow beneath the weight of fruit, green skins begin to colour and apples that seemed firmly attached only a week ago are almost ready to fall into your hand.
But knowing exactly when to pick apples isn’t always obvious.
Pick too early and the fruit may be hard, sharp and lacking in flavour. Leave it too long and you may find the best of the harvest lying bruised beneath the tree — or already being enjoyed by wasps, birds and other garden visitors.
Then there is the happy problem of what to do with it all.
A mature apple tree can produce far more fruit than a family could reasonably eat in a fortnight. Fortunately, many apple varieties store remarkably well when picked carefully and kept in the right conditions.
So fetch a basket and take a walk beneath the branches.
The apple harvest has begun.
When are apples ready to pick in the UK?
The British apple harvest isn’t a single event.
Depending on the variety, location and weather, apples can ripen from late summer right through autumn.
Early varieties may be ready in August. Many familiar mid-season apples are harvested during September, while later varieties can remain on the tree into October or beyond.
This is why relying on the calendar alone can be misleading.
A warm, sheltered garden in southern England may be picking a particular variety before the same apple is ready in a cooler or more exposed part of the country.
Even the same tree can ripen unevenly.
Apples growing on the sunnier side may be ready before those tucked into shade.
Rather than deciding that all apples must be picked because September has arrived, let the fruit tell you.
Fortunately, there is a wonderfully simple way to ask.
The lift-and-twist test
One of the easiest ways to tell whether an apple is ready to harvest is the lift-and-twist test.
Cup the apple gently in your hand.
Lift it slightly and give it a small twist.
If the fruit is ripe, it should come away from the branch easily, usually with its stalk attached.
There should be no tugging, yanking or wrestling with the tree.
If the apple stubbornly refuses to leave its branch, it may simply need a little longer.
Come back in a few days and try again.
This is one of those pleasing moments in gardening when gentleness gives you the answer. A ripe apple almost seems to volunteer itself.
Look at the colour of the apple
Colour can also offer clues, although this depends greatly on the variety.
Apples don’t all ripen to a glossy supermarket red.
Some remain predominantly green. Others become yellow, flushed pink, russeted or deep crimson.
What you are looking for is the mature colour characteristic of the variety you’re growing.
For many apples, the background colour changes as the fruit ripens. A very hard green may soften towards a paler green or yellow.
If you know the variety of your tree, learning what a mature apple should look like makes harvesting considerably easier.
If you inherited an unknown apple tree with the garden, don’t worry.
The tree can still tell you plenty through taste, ease of picking, seed colour and the behaviour of the fruit.
Cut an apple open and look at the pips
Sometimes the best way to judge an apple is to sacrifice one for research.
Cut it open and look at the pips.
As many apples mature, their seeds change from pale or creamy to brown or dark brown.
Darkening pips can therefore be another indication that the fruit is approaching maturity.
It isn’t an infallible test on its own — different varieties behave differently — but combined with the lift-and-twist test, appearance and taste, it can be useful.
And since you’ve already cut the apple open, there is another test available.
Eat it.
Gardening occasionally requires sacrifices.
Taste your apples
We can become so concerned with rules, dates and techniques that we overlook the most obvious indication of ripeness.
How does the apple taste?
An unripe apple can be excessively hard, starchy or sour, without the characteristic flavour of the variety.
A ripe apple should begin to taste like itself.
That doesn’t necessarily mean sweet. Some cooking apples remain decidedly sharp, while certain eating apples naturally have plenty of acidity.
What matters is whether the flavour seems developed rather than raw.
Taste several apples over the course of a week and you will soon begin to notice the change.
This is particularly useful if you don’t know which variety is growing in your garden.
Fallen apples are a clue — but don’t wait for all of them to fall
The first sound of apples dropping onto the lawn often signals that harvest time is approaching.
A few healthy fruits falling naturally can indicate that others on the tree are becoming ready.
But don’t wait until the entire crop is on the ground.
An apple falling from a mature tree can bruise badly, even when it lands in grass. Damaged fruit will not store nearly as well as carefully hand-picked apples.
Wind can also bring fruit down prematurely, while pests or disease may cause other apples to fall before they are properly ripe.
Use windfalls as a prompt to inspect the tree rather than as your principal harvesting method.
Pick apples in stages
You don’t necessarily need to harvest an entire apple tree in one afternoon.
In fact, it is often better not to.
Fruit on the outside of the tree and on branches receiving more sunshine may ripen first.
Start with the apples that pass the lift-and-twist test easily and leave stubborn fruit for another few days.
Return regularly.
This staggered approach has several advantages.
You are more likely to pick each apple at its best, the kitchen isn’t suddenly overwhelmed with several hundred fruits and the whole business becomes a pleasant autumn ritual rather than an exhausting race against daylight.
A basket today.
Another at the weekend.
Perhaps one final harvest next week.
Autumn needn’t be hurried.
How to pick apples without damaging them
If you want apples to store well, careful harvesting matters.
Treat every apple you intend to store as though it were an egg.
Cup the fruit in your hand rather than squeezing it with your fingers. Lift and twist gently until it separates from the branch.
Try to keep the stalk attached.
Avoid pulling downwards, which can damage the fruiting spur or break small branches.
And don’t throw apples into a bucket.
A bruise that looks insignificant on harvest day can become a soft, rotten patch during storage.
Place each fruit gently into a basket or shallow container.
The apples you handle most carefully now are the ones most likely to still be good weeks or months later.
Be careful when using ladders
There is always one apple.
It is large, perfectly coloured and hanging at the very top of the tree, apparently placed there specifically to tempt you into doing something foolish with a ladder.
Don’t.
Use a secure, appropriate ladder on firm, level ground and avoid overreaching. If you cannot comfortably reach the fruit, climb down and reposition the ladder.
Better still, use an apple-picking tool for high branches where practical.
No apple is worth a fall.
The fruit at the very top may simply have to become the blackbird’s share.
Which apples can be stored?
Not every apple is a good candidate for long-term storage.
Some early varieties are at their best soon after picking and don’t keep particularly well.
Later-season apples tend to have greater storage potential, with some varieties capable of lasting for several months in suitable conditions.
If you know the variety of your tree, check whether it is regarded as an eater, cooker, dual-purpose or storing apple and how long it is normally expected to keep.
But variety is only half the story.
The condition of the individual fruit matters enormously.
For storage, choose apples that are:
- sound and firm
- free from bruising
- free from cuts and punctures
- without signs of rot
- not badly damaged by insects
- picked carefully rather than fallen from the tree
Be selective.
A damaged apple can still be perfectly useful in the kitchen.
It simply shouldn’t be asked to sit beside your best apples for the next three months.
Sort your apple harvest before storing it
Once the baskets arrive indoors, resist the temptation to put everything straight into storage.
Sort the harvest first.
Set aside perfect fruit for keeping.
Then create another group for apples with minor bruises, marks, insect damage or broken skin. These should be eaten or cooked promptly.
Anything badly rotten should be discarded appropriately.
This is a lovely point in the harvest because the less-than-perfect apples aren’t necessarily waste.
A slightly bruised apple may become crumble.
Several windfalls can be stewed for breakfast.
An awkward-looking cooking apple can disappear into a pie.
The most beautiful fruit goes into storage, while the scruffier apples go straight towards something delicious.
Nothing needs to pretend it came from a supermarket shelf.
Should you wash apples before storing them?
Generally, apples intended for storage are best left unwashed.
If they are reasonably clean, store them as they are.
Washing introduces extra moisture and can interfere with the fruit’s natural surface.
Instead, gently brush away obvious dry dirt if necessary.
Wash apples when you are ready to eat or cook them.
This is another reason to harvest on a reasonably dry day where possible.
Fruit picked wet needs more careful handling and should be allowed to dry before being packed away.
Where is the best place to store apples?
Apples keep best somewhere cool, dark, well ventilated and frost-free.
The ideal place will vary from home to home.
A suitable shed, garage, cellar, pantry or other cool outbuilding may work, provided temperatures remain appropriate and the fruit is protected from frost and pests.
Avoid somewhere warm.
A heated kitchen may be convenient, but warmth encourages apples to ripen and deteriorate more quickly.
You also don’t want somewhere excessively damp and stagnant.
Think cool autumn storeroom rather than warm kitchen cupboard.
The aim is to slow the fruit down.
How to store apples for winter
There are several ways to store apples successfully.
The important principles are to prevent damage, allow some air circulation and make it easy to inspect the fruit.
Apples can be arranged in shallow trays in a single layer, ensuring they are not piled deeply on top of one another.
Traditional apple racks are particularly useful because each fruit can be inspected without disturbing the whole harvest.
Another method is to wrap suitable apples individually in paper before placing them in trays or boxes.
Avoid using plastic wrapping that traps unwanted moisture around the fruit.
However you store them, don’t cram apples together so tightly that one deteriorating fruit can remain hidden for weeks.
Storage should make inspection easier, not harder.
Why individually wrapping apples can help
Wrapping storing apples individually takes time.
After picking the fiftieth apple, it can feel like a rather unnecessary ceremony.
But there is logic behind it.
Paper helps prevent fruits rubbing against one another and can reduce direct contact if one begins to deteriorate.
It also encourages you to handle and inspect each apple before it goes into storage.
Use plain, clean paper and wrap gently.
Then place the fruit into shallow boxes or trays.
It is an old-fashioned task in the best possible sense: slow, simple and surprisingly satisfying on a cool autumn afternoon.
Keep different apple varieties separate
If you grow several apple varieties, store them separately where possible.
Different varieties ripen and keep at different rates.
An early apple that naturally lasts only a short time shouldn’t be mixed indiscriminately with a late storing variety that could remain useful deep into winter.
Label each tray or box.
Write down the variety, if known, and the date it was picked.
If you don’t know the variety, even a simple description such as “large green cooker — back tree” is better than nothing.
Over several seasons, these notes become particularly valuable.
You will begin to learn which tree keeps until Christmas and which needs eating before October has properly begun.
Check stored apples regularly
Storing apples isn’t a matter of shutting the door in September and returning in January.
Check them regularly.
Look for fruit that is beginning to soften, brown or rot and remove it promptly.
The familiar expression about one bad apple exists for a reason.
Rot can spread where fruit is touching or storage conditions are poor.
Regular checking also tells you which varieties are beginning to reach the end of their useful storage life.
If a whole tray starts softening, bring it into the kitchen.
It is time for crumble.
Don’t store apples with every other vegetable
Apples release ethylene as they ripen, a natural plant hormone that can accelerate ripening and ageing in some other produce.
For that reason, it is sensible to think about what shares your storage space.
Don’t simply pile apples among every other fruit and vegetable harvested from the garden.
Keep them separate from produce particularly sensitive to ethylene where practical.
Good food storage is less about having an enormous pantry and more about understanding that different crops prefer different conditions.
Potatoes have their requirements.
Onions have theirs.
And apples have their own.
How long do home-grown apples keep?
This depends enormously on the variety and storage conditions.
Some apples are meant to be eaten almost immediately.
Others improve after a short period in storage, while good keeping varieties can remain usable for months.
This is one of the great pleasures of growing more than one apple variety.
The harvest doesn’t have to arrive and disappear at once.
An early tree might provide fruit for eating straight from the branch in late summer.
A mid-season apple carries you through autumn.
Then a late storing variety waits patiently for winter.
With thoughtful variety selection, the apple season can become far longer than the picking season.
What to do with windfall apples
No matter how carefully you harvest, there will be windfalls.
Some will be almost perfect.
Others will have clearly met the ground with enthusiasm.
Pick them up regularly.
Leaving damaged fruit beneath the tree can attract wasps and other pests and may encourage disease problems.
Sort windfalls carefully.
Apples with light bruising can often be peeled, trimmed and cooked straight away. Turn them into apple sauce, compote, crumble, pies, cakes or chutney.
Fruit showing significant rot or contamination shouldn’t be stored.
The important thing is to use damaged apples promptly rather than adding them to the keeping crop and hoping for the best.
What to make with an apple glut
A heavily laden tree can produce an almost comic quantity of fruit.
You eat an apple.
You make a crumble.
You give a bag to a neighbour.
The tree appears not to have noticed.
Fortunately, apples are among the most useful harvests to have in abundance.
They can become:
- apple crumble
- pies and tarts
- stewed apple
- apple sauce
- cakes
- chutneys
- jellies
- compotes
- dried apple rings
- juice
Cooking apples can also be prepared and frozen for later use.
If your freezer is already full of beans, berries and other summer produce, storing whole apples correctly may be the more economical option.
And don’t underestimate the traditional solution to an apple glut:
Give some away.
A paper bag of home-grown apples left on a neighbour’s doorstep is one of autumn’s simplest pleasures.
Don’t forget the wildlife beneath your apple tree
An apple tree is more than a source of fruit for us.
As autumn progresses, fallen fruit becomes food for birds, insects and other wildlife.
There is a balance to be found.
Remove rotting fruit where it could contribute to pest or disease problems, particularly around productive trees, but there is no need for every corner of the garden to be scrubbed clean.
In a larger garden or wildlife area, a small amount of sound fallen fruit can provide food for visiting creatures.
You will rarely be the only one interested in the apple harvest.
Blackbirds know exactly when the fruit is ready.
Wasps generally seem to know slightly earlier.
Look after the tree once harvesting is finished
When the final apple has been picked, it is tempting to forget about the tree until blossom appears next spring.
Instead, take a moment to look at it.
Remove fruit that has become rotten or mummified and remains hanging on the tree. Clear problematic fallen fruit from beneath it.
Take note of any signs of disease, damaged branches or areas that may need attention.
But don’t automatically reach for the pruning saw.
The correct time and method for pruning depends on the type of fruit tree and the result you are trying to achieve.
For now, observation is enough.
The branches are becoming easier to see as leaves fall, and autumn can reveal things that were hidden by summer foliage.
Keep a record of your apple harvest
If you have several fruit trees, start keeping simple harvest notes.
You don’t need an elaborate spreadsheet.
Write down:
Variety: if known
First picking date: when the first ripe fruits came away
Main harvest: when most were picked
Quantity: even a rough estimate
Flavour: excellent, average or disappointing
Storage: how long they remained good
Problems: pests, disease, poor fruit set or wind damage
These notes become surprisingly useful.
Next year, you won’t need to wonder whether the tree beside the shed was ready in early September or late October.
You will know.
Over time, you begin to understand not just apples in general but your apple tree, in your garden, through your particular seasons.
That is much more valuable.
Frequently asked questions about harvesting apples
What month do you pick apples in the UK?
Apple harvesting in the UK generally stretches from late summer into autumn, depending on variety, location and weather. Early varieties can ripen in August, many are harvested during September and later apples may be picked in October or beyond.
Rather than relying solely on the month, check the individual fruit for signs of ripeness.
How do I know when apples are ready to pick?
Gently cup an apple in your hand, lift it slightly and twist.
A ripe apple should usually separate from the tree relatively easily with its stalk attached.
Colour, flavour, seed colour and the appearance of natural windfalls can provide additional clues.
Should apples be picked or allowed to fall?
Apples intended for storage are best picked carefully from the tree.
Fallen fruit is much more likely to be bruised and damaged, reducing how long it will keep.
Should I refrigerate freshly picked apples?
Small quantities can be kept cool at home, but a large home-grown harvest is often more practically stored in a suitable cool, dark, ventilated and frost-free place.
The best method depends on the variety, quantity and storage space available.
Should you wash apples before storing them?
It is generally better not to wash apples before long-term storage. Store clean, dry fruit and wash it before eating or cooking.
Can bruised apples be stored?
It is better to use bruised or damaged apples promptly.
Reserve long-term storage for firm, sound fruit without cuts, significant bruising or signs of rot.
The taste of autumn
Apple picking rarely feels like ordinary harvesting.
Perhaps it is because the trees are so permanent.
A row of lettuce comes and goes within a season. Bean plants climb their canes and disappear again. But an apple tree stands in the same patch of ground year after year, marking each spring with blossom and each autumn with fruit.
Some trees outlive the people who planted them.
And every autumn the same small ritual returns.
You reach into the branches, cup an apple in your palm and twist.
If it isn’t ready, it holds on.
If it is, the stalk slips quietly from the branch and suddenly the weight of the fruit is in your hand.
A few will be eaten before you even reach the kitchen.
Some will become pies and crumbles. The bruised ones will be cooked first, while the best are wrapped and put carefully away.
Then, perhaps on a dark December afternoon, you will open the store and find one of those apples waiting.
The skin may have lost a little of its September shine, but cut through it and the scent of the orchard returns.
For a moment, there is autumn again.
Not bad for something that began with a handful of blossom in spring.
Further Reading: My Garden Journal & Notes
