By April the Retreat Meadows have shrugged off their ice and the flats along the Putney Road go green almost overnight. Rasheds Garden Center works that season for everything it is worth — cleanups first, hauling out the winter's litter and matted leaves, then mowing and trimming on a regular turn as the grass finds its feet. Brattleboro yards vary wildly, from town lots hemmed in by hedges to open ground with a clear look at Wantastiquet across the river. Every one of them reads better with a straight cut and a defined edge. In November the year is put to bed the way it was opened: raked out, cut low, ready for the freeze.