First published in 1971, Down to Earth is a gardening classic: a treasury of gardening ideas on a wide range of topics. Ideas on designing and planting, ideas for the winter garden and the wild garden, ideas for planting the odd corner or filling the August gap, ideas for hedges and climbing plants, paths and windbreaks, ideas on books to read and gardens to visit. Anne Scott-James, a devoted but amateur gardener, writes about her own garden, made, like so many, with too little time, money and professional help, full of imperfections but a continual source of pleasure. She also writes about many other gardens all over Britain, and the practical and imaginative ideas she has collected from them.

The text is engagingly illustrated with cartoons by her husband, Osbert Lancaster.