if you till it, you will have to till it so many times you will wish you never started. what happens is the tilled dirt settles unevenly and leaves it real bumpy. you can roll it after tilling to compact it back down, but then that defeats the purpose!

how big an area you talking about here? if it is a few hundred up to maybe 10,000 sq ft i would till it and work in soil amendments at the same time. (i know, i just said tilling is bad but this is what I would do) bigger than that i just cut down the existing dead stuff as low as i could and overseed.

Thank you for the quick response.

After reading this, should I:
- Slit seed without seed in the machine
- bag mow the area to pick up any remaining plant material
- Slit seed with seed in the machine
- then finally spread hay.

Thank you again,
Jgrnot

Most on this board who have tried to seed with the machine comment that it doesn't work (rentals aren't calibrated) and one is better off to just use the machine to slit the soil and then broadcast. You want to use straw - not hay.