Spring comes up the Oyster River into Thomaston before it reaches anywhere inland — the alders green out, the ground gives underfoot, and suddenly the entire town needs mowing at once. Benner's Landscaping & Excavation meets it with mowing, string trimming, bed edging and the cleanup work that clears a winter's worth of sand and matted leaves off a lawn. Knox County ground is heavy and holds water in April, so the first cut is a question of judgment as much as schedule. Timed right, it transforms a property: the color returns, the shapes come back, the place looks awake again. That is the part of this trade worth getting up early for.