"Steve Harris" wrote in message
...
First good apple of the season. The book says 'Ashmead's Kernal' is ready
for harvest in mid-October. My experience has been late-September but this
year, here we are not quite in the last week of August! They're not quite
as sweet and sharp as I remember and they're about half the size. This may
be due to the lack of rain although others note that this variety produces
large fruit only when young. I may leave some of them for a couple of
weeks although pest attacks are starting.

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - To get my real address, remove one fruit

I was on the verge of asking a very similar question but it's not quite as
simple here (Somerset) as everything being early. For instance; I've been
picking Blackberries for several weeks and I normally expect a few early
ones but then mass ripening - this year it's all more spread out. My
apples have been dropping for several weeks; they normally start about now.
I just lifted my potatoes (partly because we're going away) and got a good
crop on a range bought at my local potato day.