By the middle of August the ground between New Haven and Richmond goes pale and hard, and every lawn in the township tells you exactly how much water it has been getting. Watering well is half of a green yard out here, so we watch how a lot drinks — the low corner that stays soft, the strip along the drive that burns first — and set the cutting height to suit it. Blades stay sharp, so the grass is sheared rather than torn and holds its color into September. Edges are cut clean along the concrete, and beds get trimmed back where the turf has wandered into them. Once the cool weeks come, the leaves and the last cuttings come off, and the lawn goes into winter short and clear with nothing left to smother it.