I let a patch in the backyard grow with grass, clover and other native plants that happened to grow in there. I keep it trimmed and use the cuttings to layer my compost pile.

My parents and neighbour hate it:

As much as they hate it, the bunny crop are coming in nicely and they don't want to pick a fight with the bunnies. The bunnies love it in there, they have safe space to hide but still get to enjoy the sun. It's better than the suburban wasteland of cut-too-short lawns where there's not many places to chill.

In order to make sure my beans survived the first few weeks, I planted so many beans early in the year so at least some would survive to maturity.

I also keep leafy greens and my veggie scraps compost pile in a small gated area and the other stuff has to battle it out in the ungated gardens.

It's going okay so far but things have only recently started to pick up so I'll see where it goes from here.

I have pretty much given up. The insect apocalypse has me worried. The watermelon seems able to out-grow whatever it is that always eats its leaves. Squash, never. Tomatoes I hand pick the bugs off with chopsticks but can't keep up with them. Citrus mostly does ok. Okra grows without anything bothering it, also broccoli, cauliflower, collards, mustard, fennel, sweet potatoes, hong tsoi, catmint, most of the trees.

Passion fruit, I had a vine but some caterpillar that can only eat passion flower vine ate it to death and didn't even stick around to make butterflies. So I gave up on that even though it does like the heat.

And I don't know how many years I would have to not grow squash to get the squash bugs under control.

Birds, I grow elderberries for them. Crows I give cat food in the front yard hoping they ignore the backyard, so far so good.

I have an rule with the bunnies and all other mammals that they can eat all of the clover and nibble on all my wildflowers. They can't have any of my garden vegetables. They don't listen at all.

I also have a rule that the house is for humans and dogs only. They also don't to this but the poison and traps inside are a slight deterrent.

I do the native plant thing for wildlife thing so when the cardinal or mockingbird nabs some blueberries or the aphids are covering a stem of my black-eyed susan then all is going according to plan. Usually I find that if some insect population starts going too crazy then it won’t be long before their predators roll in and re-establish some balance. Aphidtown clears out quick when the ladybugs stay a spell…

My house had zero landscape plants when I bought it. Now it has several hundred. In a couple areas, I planted host plants just for caterpillars to eat, and am growing more from seed to have even more host plants. I'm even considering a native citrus specifically to attract swallowtail butterflies.

All that to say, your tree will be fine, even if it looks a little ragged.