October in Old Tappan is a slow gold avalanche — the street maples let go a little at a time, and for three weeks the lawns disappear underneath them. MFP Landscaping keeps ahead of it, clearing the leaf off the turf so the grass goes into winter breathing, and keeping the mowing running right up to the last cut of the year. In warmer months it is the ordinary rhythm: cut, edge, trim, tidy the bed lines, come back next week. Spring cleanup does the same job in reverse, pulling winter's debris out of the corners so the first green has room to come up. There is real pleasure in the final pass of the blower, when the lawn is even and bare and the driveway is clean gray again.