I actually have 2 properties with different lawn issues that I need help with. Both are tall fescue lawns. I mow high, apply organic fertilizers, and water deeply and infrequently. i want to improve the soil and get a thicker lawn and need help achieving that!

property 1: lawn was sodded 5 years ago. Main issue is that there are patches of healthy TF and bare patches. This is a uniform issue that basically makes the lawn feel bumpy when you walk on it. I’ve tried overseeding but many areas didn’t sprout. I noticed that small leaves accumulate in the bare patches and I’m wondering if the seed couldn’t get to the soil. It’s hard to remove all the leaves first because the bare patches are hidden amongst healthy patches and uniformly spread throughout the lawn. Is it a good idea to topdress the whole lawn and then overseed it again?

property 2: older lawn with weed issues. Dandelions, black medic, spurge, pow annual (I think), and dallisgrass. The dallisgrass is the most annoying to remove. I’ve been hand pulling many of them but don’t want all my work to go to waste with new weeds coming in. So I’m wondering if I should use a chemical pre emergent now and then continue with my organic program? can I overseed and also use a pre emergent for the weeds? Which preemergent is recommended?