Come October the North Branch of the Metedeconk runs low and tea-dark under the oaks, and Lakewood begins handing its leaves over to the wind. RDL Landscape Services takes that season as it arrives — mowing while the grass is still growing, then the long cleanups, beds cleared and the drifted leaf raked out of every corner and hauled off. When the weather turns hard, the same routes get plowed and salted, driveways and walkways opened back up. It is plain work with a visible result, which is the good part of it: a property that looks tended in November and passable in February. Lakewood comes first, then Brick, Howell, Jackson and Toms River.