You can try aerating, but if you have sandy soil, compaction is unlikely the problem. Any slopes, but especially sandy slopes, are hard to water. The water just rolls on down and quickly drains away. If you are aerating anyway, I would suggest you topdress the area with some compost. It will fall into the holes and do a better job of absorbing and holding water than the native sand.

I second the compost suggestion. Another thing you might try is soaker hoses. You can water slower and deeper with those.

My guess is that aerating is not really your problem and so isn't going to help even if done right. Slope and fast draining are combining to just keep it drier than your other grass that you are happy with.

I'm going to give it a shot and see if it helps. Nothing to lose I guess. Should I mow before or after aeration?

I'm going to give it a shot and see if it helps. Nothing to lose I guess. Should I mow before or after aeration?

Either, but if it pulls cores that don't fall apart instantly (which they prob'ly will on sandy soil), mow before. Afterward it's going to be a bit of a mess.

Post-aeration, do yourself a favor and topdress with a good organic material. Actually, any organic material would help eventually, down to and including peat moss.

Should I go for the normal 1/4" application or just enough to fill in the holes?

I don't have access to a nice garden store so I have to use the big box stores. It will probably be either peat moss or mushroom compost. Anything else good to try? Also is there anything else goog that can be spread through a rotary spreader. I won't have much time in the next few weeks to hand spread (tossout, rake or sweep in) anything. The fish are biting and calling my name.

The fish are biting and calling my name.

The grass is soft and calling my name. :-)

1/4" will certainly help! That'll get some in the holes, plus a thin mulch layer for the grass. Don't go much thicker or you may smother the grass with it.

Peat moss is OK, as is mushroom compost. No problems there. Neither will spread well, but peat's so light it's easy to rake in. If you'd rather wait until after fish season, go ahead. Even atop the lawn it'll help.

How about Compost Peat Humus? The Lowes website says they carry that.

Also, I did a little calculating. At 1/4" to cover 4000 sq ft I will need about 3 cu. yards, 81 cubic feet. Right? I will probably have to buy bags as, like I said, there is no garden store/nursery to buy truckloads.

When I run the multiplier out (I use a standard .0007 times the number of square feet to equal cubic yards), I get 2.8. Three is not a significant difference and my multiplier isn't perfect, it's just an off the cuff number.

Compost peat humus would also be just fine. I'd say that, since you need a fair clip of the stuff, whatever's cheap and easy for you to handle is best.

Peat moss bales, at the very least, are compressed to about half their actual size. The 1.5 cu ft ones are actually 3 cu ft once it expands. Peat's also relatively cheap and, from recent data I found, reasonably renewable when managed intelligently.