My lawn is a mess. Last fall I aerated (by hand) and overseeded, which doesn't look like it worked. This spring the soil is still compacted and only in the spots I tilled and seeded, the seeds took hold. Now my lawn is patchy between vigorous new healthy growth, old dormant grass, bare dirt and large patches of weeds. I tried aerating the soil this spring with a liquid aerator from simple lawn solutions, but doesn't seem like it worked. I added compost and raked it in. I overseeded again, but it didn't germinate. Last summer when I added a weed killer I ended up with large blotches of dead weeds, but no new grass growth... these areas are still bare dirt. I had the soil tested and it came back high in nutrients and PH was normal.
It's still spring. May 1 in Upstate New York so things are just starting to grow, but I'd like to get some healthy grass germinating before it gets too hot.