Give me back my filth!
When your lease stipulates that you need to return the home or apartment in the exact same way you received it, landlords mean it. However, if you actually spend money to fix it up, your landlord shouldn’t have an issue, should they? That’s not the case with this maniac.
The landlord was upset that the backyard wasn’t the same disheveled pile of junk. Where was the burned mattress? The run-down shed? The general filth that was a health hazard? The OP had gotten rid of all of those things and made it look nice. For that, they were punished. Never go the extra mile, folks.