Spring reaches the hillside yards above German Flatts a week behind the flats — the snow letting go in patches, the grass coming up thin and pale before it thickens. Lindholm Property Services meets it there with the first cleanups of the year, hauling out what winter left behind, then settling into the rhythm of mowing, trimming and edging. On a sloped lot the mowing line is a decision rather than a habit, and getting it right is what separates a cut lawn from a kept one. By June those hillsides run deep green all the way down to the valley floor. The route includes German Flatts, Ilion, Mohawk and the neighboring Herkimer County towns.