August in Carteret is thick — heat coming up off the pavement, gulls turning overhead, container cranes standing still on the horizon at four in the afternoon. Martin landscaping services LLC works right through it, keeping the yards along the borough's streets cut even and trimmed close when the grass is at its most stubborn. Watered or not, August turf tests everybody, and a lawn that comes out clean and uniform in that heat is worth the sweat. Edges get cut sharp at the sidewalk and the walks get blown off before the truck leaves the curb. Fall brings the leaf work, spring brings the cleanup, and the rounds cover Carteret and the Middlesex County towns beside it.