Zmanwa said:Have more than acre of lawn. It has many issues; many dead areas due to sun, lots of moss in some area, infestation of dandelions and other weeds. Grass itself is relatively thin. Too big to tear out and start over. Most of this is not shaded. Want to get advice about the best procedure. Plan on renting a dethatcher to thin it all out then reseed. Is their an appropriate role for weed and feed before or should that wait until later, or not use at all. Would love to hear thoughts. Know am willing to work at it but I'm not retired and dedicate a ton of time to it. Thank you.
How deep is your soil?
People tend to think of lawn as "carpet," something that can be tossed on the ground and it will be fine. Truth is, it needs 18' inches of good soil. If the roots can't go down 18' inches, it isn't going to do what you hope it will.
My highly educated guess is that the soil is compacted. Lawn mowers have been driving on it for decades. The lawn can't grow because the soil is too hard. There's a good chance water runs off it instead of into it.
It doesn't sound like the lawn needs thatching as much as it needs aerating. There are lots of different ways to accomplish that. It's too hot to do it now. In the fall, dig a hole, as deep as you can and fill it with mulch, walk a few yards and do it again. Do this as often as you can afford to do so. Or, when the soil has enough moisture, but not too much, till it, add mulch and reseed it.
Dandelions are dynamic accumulators, ie, they are GOOD for the soil. Most folks can't tell the difference between dandelions and cat's eyes. Dandelions have soft, tubular stems and bloom in the spring. Cat's eyes have stiff stems and bloom in the summer. If you have dandelions, don't do anything about them. If you have cat's eyes, well, what I do is, I wait until I have a potato that went to seed, and I dig up the cat's eye and bury the potato. That way, I get rid of the potato, feed the soil and get rid of the cat's eyes.
I will never understand why folks hate moss. Moss purifies water. Why do folks hate it? Leave the moss alone.