The first real frost usually finds Athens in November, silvering the low ground along the Middle Oconee out past the Botanical Garden before the sun can get to it. The Gardeners Lawn Care LLC has been at those yards for weeks by then, leaves cleared from under the hardwoods, edges recut, the last cuts of the year taken low and even. From March onward it is the weekly work instead: mow, trim, edge, blow the clippings off the concrete, repeat. There is something plain and good about handing a yard back in better shape than it was found, over and over, week after week. Across Athens and the small towns ringing it, that is what they turn up to do.