July in the south end of Montclair is loud with mowers by eight in the morning, before the heat starts coming up off the pavement near Nishuane Park. Nick's Landscaping and Construction is out in it — cutting, trimming, hauling the clippings, keeping small yards on tight blocks looking open instead of overgrown. Lots down here sit flatter and closer together than the ones up on the ridge, which makes precision matter more, since a ragged edge has nowhere to hide. Autumn buries the same yards under sycamore and oak until they are raked back into view. The pleasure of the job is that before-and-after, repeated week after week for as long as the season runs.