April in Hanover Park smells like thawed ground, and the lawns come out of winter matted, gray and hungry for attention. R&L Deluxe Landscaping likes that first week of the year best — the cleanup pass that pulls out the winter litter, the first cut that wakes the color back up, the edges redrawn after five months of being buried. Near the marshes and open water of the Mallard Lake side of the village the ground stays soft late, so timing the first mow is its own kind of judgment. From there it is week after week of steady mowing and trimming, right through the tall green middle of summer. A yard that started the spring looking rough finishes it looking deliberate, and that arc is the whole point of the job.