Late April, and the back yards behind the alleys begin to fill in, the small hopeful gardens Hazel Park is full of, staked out in whatever square the garage left over. Design work on a lot this size is an exercise in scale: a bed that fits the porch instead of swallowing it, plantings that hold a corner, a path to the back gate that doesn't cut the lawn in half. Then come mulch, shrub pruning, seasonal color and the ordinary weekly care, cut and trim and edge, that keeps a design from dissolving by August. Cleanups bookend the whole thing in spring and again in fall. A block of narrow lots can still turn into something worth slowing down for, one yard at a time.