There is a week in May when the whole village smells like cedar and turned soil, and beds that spent winter flat suddenly have edges again. The Mulch Squad lives for that week — spreading mulch, cutting a spade line between bed and turf, then keeping the lawns mowed and trimmed once the growth takes off. Fresh mulch does something almost unreasonable to a front yard: dark ground, bright green, the whole thing looking deliberate. Through the summer the mowing keeps that shape honest, week after week, while the beds settle in and fill. It is straightforward work with an immediate before-and-after, which is a fine way to spend a spring.