Early spring in the Somerset Hills is mud and meltwater — the headwater brooks that feed the Passaic running loud, the ground still soft enough to hold a boot print. M. Schmidt Landscaping starts the year in that mess, raking the mat out of the turf, hauling off what winter left, waiting on the soil to firm up before the first cut. That first mow is the good one: color comes back, the borders reappear, and a yard that looked abandoned in March looks kept by the second week of April. From there it's weekly work through the green months, then leaf duty once the hills turn. Bernardsville does not stay tidy on its own, and that is the entire job.