I help run the Creative Little Garden, a community garden in NYC (https://www.creativelittlegarden.com). We maintain one woodland garden, which is about about 1100 sq feet (100 sq meters) of planting beds surrounding about the same amount of area for the paths and patio.

We have intentionally created a pocket of wildlife habitat in the East Village neighborhood of NYC. For a few years, we have been converting the garden to plants that are native to NYC. Over the course of 40 years, we've developed vertical layers of forest vegetation:

• An overstory canopy formed by a few tall, non-native trees (a weeping willow, a Japanese black pine, and a hybrid elm). We have planted a native river birch (Betula nigra) that is rapidly catching up with the tall trees.
• An understory of shorter trees and woody shrubs surrounding a woodland path. We are opportunistically renovating this area, which is now about half planted with native species.
• A herbaceous layer that we are aggressively replanting with natives, especially those that support the full lifecycle of insects we have seen in Manhattan. Naturally, this includes wildflowers, which are also people pleasers.
• The forest floor is being maintained to simulate/stimulate the natural cycles of a deciduous forest. In the fall, we do not rake the leaf litter from the planting beds, and we collect the leaves from the paths and patio, some of which are composted with spent coffee grounds. In early spring, we topdress the previous fall's leaf litter with 1/2" to 1" of finished compost, we mulch as necessary with our own leaf compost, and we spread a new layer of leaf litter.

We have two main challenges. First, most of the planting beds are shady (under 2 hours of sun) because of the surrounding tenement buildings. Second, the topsoil layer is fairly thin (as little as 8 inches) on top of building rubble or construction sand. Nevertheless, our project seems to be succeeding, judging by the wildlife that is visiting or making a home in our garden.