Winter rain in Novato comes in long, slow bands off the Pacific, filling Stafford Lake behind its dam and setting Novato Creek running loud beneath the bridges. Master Gardeners of Marin turns its attention to lawns in a town cradled between Big Rock Ridge and the bay, where every wet season brings a fresh flush of growth. Out in Indian Valley the oak woods drip and steam on the first clear morning after a storm, and the lawns back in the neighborhoods shoot up just as eagerly. Mowing, trimming and clearing away the twigs and leaves the wind has scattered keep a property orderly between one storm and the next. There is a particular satisfaction in a lawn cut even under a washed blue sky, its edges crisp against wet pavement and everything smelling of rain and cut grass.