What to do in the garden in August: Harvesting apples

Now is the time to harvest early apple varieties, says Stephen Desmond

kM6hDDzrDpTmqbLqPLzm7B.jpg
Apples
(Image credit: JUAN MONINO)

Early apple varieties take us by surprise each summer, as our brains aren't ready for them until the autumn. Nonetheless, there are several worthy late-summer cultivars, among them the scarlet-flushed Worcester Pearmain. This apple suffers from a deserved reputation for tasteless flesh with the unwelcome texture of damp cotton wool when bought in a shop, but this is unfair, as it is intended not to be kept, but eaten straight off the tree, when its lovely, sweet, juicy, unassuming freshness makes the whole exercise worthwhile. Discovery and the well-named Beauty of Bath fall into the same category.

* Subscribe to Country Life and up to £50

Country Life

Bringing the quintessential English rural idle to life via interiors, food and drink, property and more Country Life’s travel content offers a window into the stunning scenery, imposing stately homes and quaint villages which make the UK’s countryside some of the most visited in the world.