March along the Route 70 pine corridor is all thaw and mud — sand roads soft, the woods toward Whiting still gray, the first green showing at the base of the grass before anything above it stirs. Kyle's Landscaping opens the year there with spring cleanups, beds cleared of winter debris, and the first cuts and clean edges that snap a yard back into shape. Getting the litter off early lets Toms River's sandy ground warm and the turf fill in evenly. There is a specific pleasure in that first mow, when a shaggy lawn goes sharp in a single afternoon. Everything the rest of the summer looks like begins in those few weeks.