Start with a good reliable soil test. Rutgers Cooperative Extension Service provides this service for $20.00 per sample for soil pH and nutrient levels. Along with that soil test these simple soil tests may also help.

1) Soil test for organic
matter. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in
a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and
replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24
hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight.
For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the
bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above
that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top.

2) Drainage. Dig a hole
1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains
away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain
away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains’ too quickly and needs
more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the
soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful
of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is
released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a
finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your
soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant
odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria
will be and the nicer your soil will smell, to a point. Too much organic matter
can be bad as well.

5) Life. How many
earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5,
according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that
is not healthy.

Spending time now to get the soil into a good healthy condition will give you a much better and longer lasting lawn then simply spreading some grass seed ever will.

kimmq is kimmsr

Thanks for the advice! A few questions:

-should i aerate now? one landscaper that I spoke with mentioned that aerating is not recommended in spring because of all the weeds?/particles? in the air, which would then get embedded deeper in the soil

-how do i know what type of compost to use? my municipality has compost that i can obtain but i don't know if it is appropriate for lawn use. what is the difference between organic compost and regular compost?

-do i add the compost and the fertilizer at the same time? and then seed immediately? at what step in the process should i potentially be adding lime (or something else?) to correct for acidic soil?

Core aeration is absolutely the best thing you can do for a neglected lawn and I recommend it highly. I also recommend doing it on an annual basis. It never hurts and it typically helps reduce compaction and allow organic matter to penetrate deeper into the soil profile. Don't worry about weed seeds flying in and settling into the cores - they will be buried too deeply to germinate well.

How acidic is your soil? Cool season lawns prefer a neutral to slightly acidic soil so unless your soil pH is below 6.0, you do not need to lime. If you need to lime, do so before seeding. Lime takes time to alter pH, so the suggestion is do it in fall for spring renovation or in spring if planning a fall renovation.

The rest of the advice provided by matt is pretty much spot on. Any compost will work and all compost is considered organic as it is decomposed plant and animal material, although some "hippy diehards" as matt referred to them will pick nits about how organically grown the ingredients are. No matter - labeled organic or not, any compost is fine (and better than nothing). Overseed and cover with another light layer of compost to protect the seed and hold in moisture. Don't fertilize until the seed has germinated and is at least an inch high. It's getting all the nutrients it needs from the compost until then.

btw, plan on something else under the oak tree. Lawn grasses are not inclined to grow well in much shade and the root zone of any large tree is a difficult place for grass to thrive. Maybe just a wood mulch in the area or a groundcover that tolerates dry shade.

Whether to core aerate depends on what that soil is. Is sandy aeration is not necessary, if clay maybe although tilling in adequate amounts of organic matter will do the same thing. That "landscaper" is someone to avoid, not good information.

Seeding a lawn in the spring is not a very good idea because the grass plants will just be getting growing when the hot, dry days of summer will start and those grass plants will suffer greatly.

Talk with the people at your local Rutgers CES office about growing a lawn.

http://njaes.rutgers.edu/county/

kimmq is kimmsr

You don't "till" an existing lawn that just needs some attention. That's the entire point of aerating - it's a means of delivering organic matter into the soil without major disruption. And spring is a fine time for lawn renovation for cool season lawns. In fact, it is a time period that is recommended by Rutgers (among most other sources): "Establish the lawn during the first warm, dry period as soon as soil is dry enough"

To establish a good healthy lawn requires a good healthy soil which may require tilling organic material in to the soil. Poking a few 1/8, or even 1/4, inch diameter holes into the soil, aerating, will not get enough OM into the soil to make much difference.

Old school thought was spring was the time to reseed, but today research has shown that fall is the best time to renovate any lawn as this from Scotts's states,"The best time to seed your lawn is in the fall. The soil is still warm but the air is cooler. There are fewer weeds for new grass to compete against. Since your trees are starting to shed their leaves, there's plenty of sunlight. Also, diseases that attack seedlings are less active. If you can't seed in the fall, your next best time is the spring."

Rutgers will tell anyone wishing to renovate a lawn to start with a good reliable soil test since turf grasses grow best in a good healthy soil and a soil test helps get there. Soil pH is quite important for a good healthy lawn.

Simply overseeding an established lawn might get something for a short time but will not be a good long term turf.

kimmq is kimmsr

Core aeration pulls 3-4' deep, 1 inch diameter plugs from the turf, spaced about 6' or so from each other. That is plenty of space for OM to penetrate down into the soil profile.

From your comments, it's apparent that lawn renovation is not something you have done with any regularity. I advise on this as part of my business. In addition to 3 lawn care classes I've conducted this spring, I've also supervised the renovation of 4 large lawns in the last 6 weeks. The process I've outlined works and works well. Planting a new lawn is quite a bit different from renovating an existing lawn and you do want to take some extra steps if that's the case, but tilling up an existing lawn just to overseed is nuts. Nobody does that! And I wouldn't put much stock in anything published by Scotts. For cool season lawns, midspring and midfall are ideal times to renovate and overseed.

Climate affects how to do things such as a lawn renovation. Weather in the Pacific Northwest is different than in New Jersey. Temperature are more moderate, rarely reaching 80 degrees until August with rainfall averaging between 50 and 100 plus inches in the PNW while in NJ temperature can reach 80 in May and June, just as the new grass is starting to grow, and average rainfall is about 50 inches. A publication from Rutgers says the best time to renovate a lawn is late summer to early fall.

http://njaes.rutgers.edu/pubs/publication.asp?pid=fs108

You will need Adobes Acrobat Reader for that.

kimmq is kimmsr

A cool season lawn is a cool season lawn regardless of where you are located. And that means the lawn grows vigorously in spring and fall, making either of them good times for both seeding a new lawn or renovating an existing lawn.

And please don't attempt to lecture me about MY climate! Unless you are located in the rainforest area of the PNW, annual rainfall doesn't approach anywhere close to 100". Less than 40" is more typical, with some areas receiving even less than that. And little if any of it falls between June and October. This is a recurring summer drought area. btw, we hit 80 degrees last week.........late April. And it should be in the upper 70's today. New lawns and overseeded lawns need regular irrigation, regardless of location. Temperature and natural rainfall have little to do with it other than it needs to be warm enough - soil temps - for the lawn seed to germinate.

To avoid further embarrassing yourself, you might want to restrict your comments to what you actually know firsthand.

You go Girl.

A little testy there Gardengal.

Yes, well after umpteen years of trying to clarify your often misinformed advice, I think I've earned the right to be a little testy. Specially when you post blatantly incorrect information.

I usually learn best from someone who is not as testy,sorry honey...

gardengal48 wrote:

"Core aeration pulls 3-4' deep, 1 inch diameter plugs from the turf, spaced about 6' or so from each other. That is plenty of space for OM to penetrate down into the soil profile."

Can you tell me what aerator you use to pull those 4" deep cores. that is what I want to do but the available machines seem to be limited to about 2 1/2 inches. It needs to fit through a garden gate.

Professional grade aerators - usually available through equipment rental outlets - tend to offer the best results and pull the deepest plugs. Most of them are intended to fit through a 36" opening or gate.