There is a particular satisfaction in walking down to the shed in January, lifting the lid of a tray and finding apples still firm, fragrant and utterly unlike anything you can buy. With a little care in October, that pleasure is entirely achievable. The trick is to treat your harvest as a living thing — it needs cool air, darkness and regular attention, not simply a box in the corner of a shed.

Start with fruit worth keeping

No storage method can rescue a bruised or scabby apple. Only sound, unblemished fruit will keep, so sort as you pick and be ruthless about it. Anything with a wasp hole, a soft brown patch, a bird peck or a broken skin goes straight to the kitchen for eating fresh, stewing or freezing. One rotting apple can taint an entire tray, so the discipline you show at picking time pays you back all winter.

Variety matters just as much as condition. Early apples such as Discovery and Beauty of Bath are best eaten within a fortnight of picking and will not keep whatever you do. Mid-season sorts like Cox's Orange Pippin will manage a few weeks. It is the late, hard-fleshed varieties that carry you through to spring: Bramley's Seedling, Ashmead's Kernel, Edward VII, D'Arcy Spice, Egremont Russet and Winston, to name a few reliable performers.

Picking and handling

• Pick in dry weather, once the dew has lifted, and ideally in the morning when the fruit is cool.
• Cup each apple in your palm and lift it gently so the stalk parts from the spur. Never tug or twist hard enough to pull out the stalk — a broken stalk is an open door for rot.
• Leave the stalk intact and do not wash the fruit. A wipe with a dry cloth is fine for a smear of dirt; washing strips the natural bloom that helps protect the skin.
• Use a padded basket or a bucket lined with a folded sack, and never tip fruit from a height into a container.

Finding the right spot

Your ideal store is cool, dark, rodent-proof and well ventilated, with a steady temperature between about 2°C and 5°C and reasonably high humidity. A frost-free garage, a stone outbuilding, an unheated back room or a cellar all work well. The loft is usually too warm; a heated kitchen is hopeless.

Keep apples well away from potatoes and onions, which give off moisture and odours that will taint them, and away from anything with a strong smell such as paint or fuel. Air must be able to move around the fruit, so slatted wooden orchard trays or shallow cardboard boxes with holes punched in the sides are ideal. Avoid sealed plastic bags and lidded bins, which trap moisture and encourage rot.

Wrapping and laying down

Wrapping each apple individually is the single most effective thing you can do. It slows ripening, cushions knocks and — crucially — stops one bad apple spoiling its neighbours. Squares of newspaper, tissue paper or, traditionally, paper impregnated with a little vegetable oil all work beautifully. Wrap the apple so the paper covers it loosely, then place it in the tray with the stalk end down. Arrange them in a single layer and do not stack more than three trays high, with a gap between each for air.

Label each tray with the variety and date. You will be grateful in February when the trays look identical.

Pears need a different approach

Pears are not natural long-keepers and should be treated almost the opposite way to apples. Pick them when they come away easily with a gentle upward lift, while still hard, and store them in a single layer — stalk end up — in a cool, dark place. They will keep for roughly four to eight weeks depending on variety; Conference and Beurré Hardy hold reasonably well, while Comice is shorter-lived and best enjoyed from November onwards.

Pears ripen from the inside out, so press gently near the stalk to judge readiness rather than squeezing the middle. Bring a few into a warm room three or four days before you want to eat them. A pear left to soften fully on the tree is usually a lost pear — it will be brown and mealy at the core by the time the outside feels right.

Checking through the winter

Inspect your store once a week, ideally when the weather is cold so you are not letting warmth in for long. Remove any fruit showing soft spots, wrinkling or brown patches immediately, and use up anything doubtful straight away. Eat the smaller and less perfectly stored fruit first, saving the best for later in the season.

With a little diligence, late apples will carry you through to March and beyond, and pears will see you comfortably into the New Year. There is no great secret to it — just sound fruit, individual wrapping, a cold dark corner and a weekly glance. Do that, and your orchard will keep feeding you long after the leaves have fallen.