Deep infrequent watering is the most important thing. Don't let your neighbors talk you out of that. It is more important that mowing height (highest setting on your mower for your lawn on Long Island) or fertilizer (Memorial Day, Labor Day, and around Thanksgiving).

Spot spray weeds in April. April is far too late for preemergent. It would be fine for a second application of preem, but you will be disappointed if you make April your first app. Again, deep and infrequent watering will be your friend here. Weed seeds need shallow and frequent watering to germinate. Grassy weeds like crabgrass will not be affected by something like Weed-b-Gon. You will need a grass killer like Grass-b-Gon for those. Careful not to get overspray on your good lawn.

Northern grasses are hard to identify from a distant picture. They are easier to ID when they go to seed or flower. Fescue will remain green all year every year. Kentucky bluegrass will often remain green all year when well cared for, but some winters will turn it brown in spite of good care. You might want to mix some KBG into your fall overseeding. KBG is a full sun only type grass that spreads to fill in thin spots. Rye and fescue will remain in small bunches. Get enough small bunches and it behaves like a lawn. If you lose some bunches to activity, an insect, or disease, they will not recover like KBG.

If you get swarms of beetles on your porch lights in May or June, write back. Those beetles will become grubs that damage someone's lawn. A certain amount of grubs are tolerable, but we can help you figure that out. Try to refrain from preemptive spraying insecticide or fungicide. Your soil absolutely depends on a healthy population of beneficial insects and fungi.

Thanks for the reply dchall. I won't let my neighbors talk me out of the watering schedule, not that I think they would even try and as for the fertilizing schedule and mower heights, that's actually what my father-in-law had recommended to me and consequently what I did last year so good to know that it's consistent with your recommendation. Maybe I'll just hold off on putting down the Pre-E until next year if it won't really make a difference to put down so late this year.

I want to overseed this fall and would love to have a KBG lawn however I read something about not being able to overseed KBG into a PRG lawn and am just concerned that I'll spend a few hundred dollars on seed and then because of my grass type it won't take hold. I was hoping someone would be able to identify the grass type from the pictures I took but maybe they aren't up close enough.

Any thoughts about dethatching like a time of year to do it etc? I had thought maybe it would be worth it to dethatch the lawn this spring, do my memorial day fertilization, and then right around Labor day when I do that fertilization I could also do an overseed (assuming my grass type isn't PRG) of KBG. If my grass type is a Fescue will the KBG blend well with it initially and would the KBG eventually take over the lawn with some help, without having to completely reno the lawn?