September softens the light along Dennett and Haley Roads, and the lawns finally slow down enough to hold a cut for a full week. York River Landscaping LLC is out in it — mowing, trimming, edging the borders where grass meets gravel and oak shade. Kittery ground runs sandy in one corner and heavy in the next, sometimes inside the same yard, and reading that is what keeps a lawn even. Autumn is the season the work pays back: color coming into the maples, the turf deep green and level underneath them. Then the leaves come down, and the closing passes of the year put everything to rest.