October runs the ridge above town like a slow fire — the Mattatuck woods going copper and rust, and then two windy days later all of it is down on the lawns. Fall is the season this trade earns its keep: leaves cleared off, beds cut back, edges redrawn, a last mow that leaves the grass short enough to winter well. The rest of the year is the steady part, mowing and trimming and edging from April onward, holding a yard even while everything around it grows. Plymouth's hillsides make each property a little different, and that variety keeps the work interesting instead of routine. A lawn raked clean under bare October trees is its own kind of finished.