I just finished doing all these things to my lawn. I first mowed my lawn short and raked up all the debris I could by hand. I then aerated with an aerator I rented from Home Depot. Then I over-seeded (this is bermuda grass, btw) with a spreader. Finally I put down about 3 yards of leaf compost using a shovel, wheelbarrow and rake. This was all 3 days ago. I watered once and we had a nice little rain today.

What I'm concerned about is if I put the compost down correctly. My town gives away free compost that it creates from the leaves it gathers during the winter. It seems pretty good though there are some large particles in it and the occasional clump of wet leaves that didn't get ground up and some rocks. I did not sift the compost (no way I'm going to sift 3 yards of it). I raked out a lot of the really large stuff and threw it in back yard.

There are still some large particles on the lawn though. Is it possible I'm doing more harm than good here? Could it be suffocating the grass, or am I not giving the grass enough credit? :) This is my first experience with top dressing a lawn.