Out to crunch: it's apple-harvesting time

"I love my garden," says Alan, a man I'm sitting next to at a talk, "but I really want to plant some apple trees. And what I'd love to find is local varieties that would grow well on my soil in Hackney, north-east London. But how can I work out what those are?"

This sounds like a mission, so off I go. I can see Alan's logic – growing your own fruit is nice, but growing an heirloom apple breed that really feels at home with you adds a special satisfaction. I start with the reference books: The New Book of Apples by Joan Morgan and Alison Richards (Ebury, £35) gives detailed histories of 2,000 varieties that can be cross-referenced with nursery lists.

We also try Forgotten Fruits by my predecessor on this page, Christopher Stocks (Arrow, £16.99), for great stories of local apples. According to Stocks, west Londoners could plump for the local Cox's Orange Pippin, sown from a pip in 1825 by Mr Cox, a brewer, who'd retired there from Bermondsey to live the high life; citizens of Bristol, on the other hand, should try Beauty of Bath.

We have soon compiled a shortlist of London-bred apples with nice local associations and stories behind them. But I think we need practical advice about these varieties. Perhaps they are lost for good reasons: prone to disease or only fruiting one year in three. To see them growing in real life I head to Butterfield Community Orchard in Stoke Newington, just around the corner from Alan.

By the entrance gate stands a tree bearing the D'Arcy Spice variety. Long hours of East Anglian sunshine originally gave D'Arcy Spice its delicious sweetness: "It still grows better there than anywhere else," writes Stocks. Then there's Cox's Orange and Flower of Kent, two more apples native to the south-east of England. If you are looking to find suitable local heirloom types, community projects such as this have often already done all the research for you. So these three varieties go high up on Alan's list.

Finally, though, choosing apples is a personal business that's as much to do with taste as anything else. Your best bet as a would-be apple connoisseur is to head to one of the apple days currently being organised across the country.

I head to Wisley, where the orchard provides an almost infinite opportunity to examine fruit. You'll find rows of trees lit in the bright autumn sunshine, branches heavy with apples and that cidery scent of a ripe crop. And going to an event means you get to try apples straight from the tree, so you can learn whether you prefer an acidic tang or a sweet October mellowness. My only problem is going to be picking just three varieties to take back home.

The pick of the crop: It's harvest time

Don't miss Apple Weekend at The National Botanic Garden of Wales , which features, among others, the Keswick Codlin, right. This sharp green apple well suits the hard flinty town it is named after. Apple Weekend is 18-19 October, www.gardenofwales.org.uk. A two-year-old Keswick Codlin tree costs £21.20, from www.thornhayes-nursery.co.uk

This month also sees RHS Wisley's A Taste of Autumn, with the chance to taste apples and ciders and take a tree home. A favourite is the Bascombe Mystery, an acidic green apple with a sharp, refreshing taste. A Taste of Autumn is 17-20 October, www.rhs.org.uk. A two-year-old tree costs £18 from www.bernwodeplants.co.uk

And lastly, for townies, the Borough Market, right, Apple Day features an array of delights for apple lovers. Apple Day is 26 October, www.boroughmarket.org.uk