What we do
Seven services, seven different answers.
A weekly mow and a mini digger are not the same job, so they should not read the same. Each of the services below is written out on its own terms — what it covers, what we do first, and what you are left with.
01Service
Garden Design
We are not a drawing-board practice and we do not pretend to be. Our design work starts standing in the garden with you: what you want to use it for, where the sun actually falls, what has to stay, what the levels and the drainage will allow, and what your budget is really going to stretch to. From that we work up a plan for the layout — lawn, beds, hard surfaces, screening and access — and set out what gets done first and what can wait for next year. The advantage of having it designed by the firm that will build it is that nothing on the plan is a surprise when it comes to be dug: it has already been thought through by the people holding the spade.
- An on-site walk-through and a plan for the layout, levels and planting
- Honest advice on what to do first and what can wait
- Planting chosen for the aspect, the soil and how much upkeep you want
- Designed and built by the same two people, start to finish
02Service
Garden Maintenance & Weeding
This is the bread and butter, and it is what most of our long-standing clients know us for. A set visit — weekly, fortnightly or monthly — where the lawn is mown and edged, the beds and borders are weeded and tidied, and anything that has started to run away is brought back under control before it becomes a job in its own right. The clippings go with us. One of our Google reviewers has had us coming weekly for a couple of years; another has been with us as their garden grew and developed. That is the point of a regular round: you stop thinking about the garden, and it still looks looked-after in February as well as June.
- Mowing and edging, cut to the season rather than to a fixed setting
- Beds and borders weeded, edged and kept clear
- Deadheading, cutting back and general tidying through the year
- All green waste taken away with us
03Service
Land Clearance
Clearance is a different job from maintenance and we price it as one. Brambles, self-seeded scrub, years of growth on a bank, a plot that has not been touched since the last owner — we cut it, dig it out, grub out the roots that will come back, and take the lot away. Where the ground needs reshaping as well as clearing, we can bring in a mini digger: one of our recent jobs took out a garden bank entirely to create the extra off-street parking the client needed. You are left with ground you can actually do something with, whether that is new turf, a fence line or a driveway.
- Brambles, scrub and overgrowth cut back and removed
- Roots and stumps grubbed out so it does not all return
- Mini-digger work where a bank or level needs changing
- Spoil and green waste removed from site
04Service
Fencing, Turfing & Planting
Three jobs that tend to arrive together at the end of a clearance, and all three live or die on the preparation. Fence posts go in properly so the line stays straight and upright through a wet winter. Turf goes onto ground that has been cleared, levelled and raked rather than laid over whatever was there, because turf laid on a bad base always shows by the second summer. Planting is chosen for the spot it is going into — the chalk and clay round Winchester, the aspect, how much of the garden you actually want to look after — so it establishes instead of sulking.
- Close-board and panel fencing, posts set and lines run true
- Ground cleared, levelled and prepared before any turf goes down
- Fresh turf laid, or seeded where the season suits it better
- Shrubs, hedging and border planting suited to the soil and aspect
05Service
Hard & Soft Landscaping
Hard landscaping is the structure: paving, paths, kerbs and edging, steps, gravel and driveway surfaces, the levels and drainage underneath it all. Soft landscaping is everything that grows around it. We do both, which matters more than it sounds — a beautiful patio laid without a thought for how the beds drain onto it, or planting squeezed in around paving that has already been set, is how most gardens end up looking almost right. We work the two together: levels and falls first, then the surface, then the planting that softens it.
- Patios, paths, steps and gravel or block-set driveways
- Kerbing, sleepers and edging to hold levels and borders
- Sub-base and falls dealt with properly before the surface goes on
- Beds, borders and planting designed around the hard surfaces
06Service
Hedge Cutting
Hedge cutting is mostly about timing and discipline. Cut at the wrong time and you either disturb nesting birds or take a conifer back past the green and leave a brown scar that will not grow out. Cut without a line and you end up with a hedge that gets a little wider and a little taller every year until it is shading half the garden. We cut to a line, keep the top and the sides in proportion, and tell you honestly if a hedge is better reduced over two seasons than butchered in one. Beech, hornbeam, laurel, privet, yew, leylandii — all clipped and cleared up after.
- Formal and informal hedges cut to a set line and height
- Reductions planned over a season or two where that is kinder to the plant
- Timing worked around nesting season
- Clippings raked up and taken away
07Service
Jetwashing & Spraying
Most patios are not worn out, they are dirty. A season of algae, moss in the joints and the green film that builds up on a north-facing path will take years off the look of a garden, and a proper jetwash puts most of it back. We wash paving, block paving, decking and driveways, clear the joints and re-sand block paving where it needs it. Spraying is the follow-up for the places where weeds keep returning through gravel, block joints and hard standing — targeted, kept away from your planting, and done as part of the round rather than as an afterthought.
- Patios, paths, decking, block paving and driveways washed down
- Moss and algae cleared out of joints and edges
- Block paving re-sanded where the jointing has gone
- Targeted weed treatment on gravel, joints and hard standing
Photographs — Down to Earth Winchester Ltd's own, via Google
How it works
A look, a quote, and a date.
No packages and nothing to sign up to. Dan comes out, walks the garden with you, and you get a clear quote in writing for the work as described.
01
Tell us about the garden
Call or email with a rough idea of what you are after — a weekly tidy, an overgrown plot that needs rescuing, a fence line replacing. We will say straight away whether it is something we do and when we could get to it.
02
We come and look
Dan comes out, walks the garden with you and talks through the options. You get a clear, written quote for the work described — no packages to choose from and nothing added on later that was not discussed.
03
The work, done properly
Maintenance goes onto the regular round; bigger jobs are booked in and worked through in order. Dan and Tim work together on anything substantial, and the green waste and spoil goes with us.
04
Kept right afterwards
Plenty of our landscaping clients stay on for maintenance once the hard work is done — so the new turf, planting and borders are looked after through the seasons rather than left to slide back.
Before you ring
The questions we get asked most.
What are your actual opening hours?
Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm, and Saturday 8am to 1pm. Closed Sundays. Those are the hours on our Google listing and they are the same hours you will find on every page of this site — call within them and you will usually get one of us, and outside them leave a message or email and we will come back to you the next working morning.
Where are you actually based, and how far do you travel?
We work out of the Winchester and Chandler's Ford area of Hampshire. The regular maintenance round stays local — Winchester, Chandler's Ford, Hursley, Twyford and Eastleigh — because a weekly round only works if we can reliably get to you. For landscaping, fencing and clearance we travel further: Southampton, Romsey, Basingstoke, Andover, Newbury, Salisbury and Ringwood.
Do you do one-off visits or only regular contracts?
Both. Plenty of our work is a set weekly or fortnightly round, but we also take on one-off jobs — a hedge that has got away, an overgrown garden before a house goes on the market, a patio that needs jetwashing. There is no requirement to sign up to anything ongoing.
Are you gardeners or landscapers?
Both, and that is deliberate. We do the weekly mow-and-borders work and the heavier end — clearance, fencing, turfing, paving, driveways and groundworks. It means one firm can clear a plot, build what goes on it and then keep it looking right afterwards, rather than you managing two trades who blame each other.
Who turns up to do the work?
Dan and Tim Murdoch — two brothers, and the two directors of the company. Dan usually comes out to look at the garden and price it, and on anything substantial both of them are on site. The reviews that name "Dan and Tim" are naming the people who actually do the job.
Do you take the waste away?
Yes. Clippings, cuttings, cleared growth and spoil from groundworks all go with us and are disposed of responsibly. You are not left with a pile at the end of the garden or a run to the tip to sort out yourself.
How does a quote work?
Call or email with a rough idea of the job. If it is something we do, Dan comes out, walks the garden with you and gives you a clear quote in writing for the work as described. Nothing gets added on afterwards that was not discussed on the day.
Can you rescue a garden that has completely got away?
That is one of the things we are best set up for. Land clearance is a proper service for us rather than a sideline — brambles, scrub, self-seeded growth and neglected banks cut back, grubbed out and removed, with a mini digger where the ground needs reshaping. Once it is clear you can decide whether it becomes lawn, planting, fencing or hard standing.
Is Down to Earth a registered company?
Yes — Down to Earth Winchester Ltd, company number 13522364, registered at Companies House and active. You can look us up there, which is more than you can do with a lot of the cards that come through the door.
Not sure which of those it is?
Most gardens need two or three of them at once. Ring and describe it, and we will tell you what actually needs doing first.