Hello. I moved to Dayton (Fairborn, actually) from California a year and a half ago and I'm fairly new to gardening and lawn care. In CA we had very sandy soil and I had never even heard of aerating until moving here. I know the soil here is a really heavy compacted clay so I was wondering if folks in the Dayton area consider it a given that our lawns need to be aerated every year? I haven't done mine yet. How late is too late to aerate? How do I know if mine really needs it?

Also, my lawn needs overseeded. How many of you Dayton folks have done dormant seeding with success? When do you put down the seed? If there's a chance I can do dormant seeding effectively I'd rather do that than do it in the spring, I think (it seems so much easier). I'm sure I've missed the boat for fall seeding... the last two mornings I've awoken to frost!