Daphne Is Home. The Shop Is on Rand Ave.

Andrews Lawn & Garden runs out of 8964 Rand Ave, Unit 1201. That is not a mailbox or a satellite office — it is where the equipment sits and where the day starts. If you live in Daphne, you are usually the first or the last stop, and that shows up in small ways: a Friday walkthrough that actually happens, a crew that can come back Monday for one detail without rearranging the whole week.

Living this close to Mobile Bay comes with a specific set of yard problems. Ground that drains fine in March holds water in July. Lots along the bluff shed runoff straight onto whoever is below them. And the older neighborhoods — Lake Forest being the obvious one — have thirty-year-old plantings that outgrew their beds a decade ago and now shade out anything trying to grow underneath.

Those three things usually come as a package, so we handle them as one. Move the water where it should have been going in the first place, cut the overgrown beds back to a real shape, then put down turf that has a chance in the light it is actually getting. After that it is a matter of keeping it mowed and edged on a set schedule so it does not slide back to where it started.