Caring for new build garden

yeah, I guessed there is either compact clay or some rubble under that. You will know by using a Garden fork to see if you are hitting anything there.

The patio gave it away and the type of back wall. Mine looked the same when I bought but had horrible drainage issues as the Garden full of clay which meant when it rained we had standing water and summer we have burnt grass.

Fixed now anyway myself.

ps don’t take garden advice from Cairn and start fertilising now and overseeding end of August/Sept

First thing to do is to find out what’s there under the soil. I can see that your lawn is not level and has a dip in relation to your patio slabs so you may only need to topdress and level the lawn with a mix of 70% sand 30% topsoil and overseed

Everything looks fine and dandy health wise OP.

Re watering the trees if you have a hose lay it at the base of each, reduce the flow to the slightest trickle and leave it there for a half an hour each once a week. This ensures the water will soak down to the roots rather than flow off the parched ground.

The tree in your last pic is a birch and the broken branches are normal and won't do any harm. Interestingly the first pic looks like cytisus battanderi, the pineapple broom, which is an unusual and fabulous tree. Can you take a closer pic of the second last one though?, find it hard to identify that!

Keep an eye on the straps attaching the trees to the stakes and remove them when they get too tight.

Edit, my mistake, not cytisus but amelanchier on closer inspection. Tree on the other side looks to be a hawthorn.

That's a perfectly healthy Agapanthus, you can cut off the faded flower stems

@Sully, that tree still has the label attached so you can identify it from that.

Could you recommend small trees/large shrubs to provide screening in a small urban garden?

Low maintenance if possible please.