September mornings in Granite City start with dew heavy enough to soak a boot, geese going over in ragged lines toward the bottoms, and the bluff line east of town holding the first haze of color. V Green Lawn & Landscape Management LLC reads that turn in the year the way anyone who cuts grass for a living has to — mow heights adjusted, overseeding where the summer thinned things out, trimming and edging kept sharp while growth slows. Earlier in the season the routine runs weekly: mow, trim, edge, blow off the hard surfaces, leave nothing behind but the smell of cut grass. The flat ground between the river and the bluffs will grow a deep, forgiving lawn if somebody stays after it. Watching a tired yard come back thick by the end of a season is reason enough to keep at it.