Spring digging in Portsmouth turns up the same rich river soil that built this valley, dark and loose and ready the moment the ground warms near Mound Park. Porters LawnCare & Landscaping puts that season to use — shaping beds, setting plants, laying mulch and cutting borders that hold their shape into fall. Mowing and trimming carry the middle of the year, and when winter finally shows up, the plow and the shovel take over the drives and walks. Working a landscape here means working with slope, because half the yards in the county lean toward a creek. Watching a hillside bed fill in and settle is the long reward of doing it carefully the first time.