My landlord told me the lease said I was responsible for "maintaining the garden in a neat and tidy condition." So I maintained it. Extremely neatly. In exactly the condition it was in when I moved in.

When I moved into this house three years ago the front garden was mostly gravel with a few ornamental grasses and a small lavender border. Low maintenance by design, nothing complicated. About eighteen months ago my landlord sent a message saying the garden was looking "a bit overgrown" and reminded me of the lease clause. Fair point, I tidied it up. But then a few months later she sent another message saying she'd like to see more "seasonal colour" and asked if I could add some plants and "make it look more inviting." I said that wasn't in my lease. She said it was covered by "neat and tidy." I said neat and tidy described maintenance of the existing garden, not an obligation to landscape it to her taste on my time and money. She disagreed. So I went back to the lease, took photos of the garden on the day I moved in from the original property listing, and then set about restoring the garden to precisely that state. The overgrown grasses that had gotten a bit wild were cut back to the same height as in the listing photos. The gravel was re-raked. The lavender was trimmed. It looked exactly like the day I moved in — neat, tidy, and entirely devoid of seasonal colour. She sent a message saying it looked "a bit bare." I sent her the listing photo and the relevant lease clause side by side and said I was meeting my contractual obligation as specified. She has not mentioned the garden since and I have not added a single aditional plant.