Congrats on the graduation and the new house. You'll probably find some conflicting advice here, also, but there's a lot of agreement on much of what goes into lawncare.

You'll have better luck getting the grass to germinate if you can water 2-3 times a day for 10-15 minutes. The goal is to keep the seeds and surface moist. Kentucky bluegrass (KBG) takes about 3 weeks to germinate so you'll need to water frequently at least that long.

I would probably wait to fertilize. The reason is that the new seeds can't use the fertilizer until they've started to grow but the existing grass can use it right away, so it will grow faster and need to be mowed before the new grass can handle being mowed.

Don't put down any weed killer until you've mowed the new grass at least 3 times. By that time, it may be too hot to use the weed killer. For future reference (or for now if you have the receipt and can return it) it's better to fertilize and kill weeds in two steps. The reason is that the weed killer works best when the grass is growing vigorously, so if you fertilize and wait about two weeks, the weed killer will be more effective.

Once the grass comes up, the three keys to keeping the lawn healthy are:
1 water deeply and infrequently
2 Mulch mow as high as you can take it (I mow at the highest setting, about 3.5-4 inches)
3 fertilize with about 1 lb of actual N per 1000 sq ft 3-4 times a year, with most of that applied in the fall. The last application should be while the grass is still green but is no longer actively growing.

I agree with bpgreen, but I have some other comments and a question. I'll start with the question. If you still have the seed bag, could you copy and post the Guaranteed Analysis here? It might suggest some issues you can either expect to see or not expect. It should list the seed varieties, Other Crop, and Weed percentages.

One more question, are you interested in having the best lawn on the block? It is not any harder than having one of the mediocre lawns on the block. The 1-2-3 steps that bpgreen suggested above are the same for either one. The only difference is seed variety and quality. This would suggest that you do a complete renovation in the fall. That's not that hard to do, so I'm just asking.

You have made a mistake by seeding this late in the spring. One problem is that your lawn is full of bare spots that contain crabgrass seed. When you start to water as bpgreen suggests to sprout your KBG seed, you will also be sprouting the crabgrass seed. The worst thing that will happen is that instead of getting a bluegrass lawn, you will have a full coverage crabgrass lawn. Unless you are fanatic about it, don't worry. Crabgrass only lives until fall no matter what you do or don't do. If you want to renovate in the fall, all that goes away anyway. The other reason late spring is not good for reseeding is the new grass will have roots that are too tender to withstand the summer heat. If the crabgrass did not get you this month, it will be there waiting in July when the new KBG is suffering.

My strong preference for an above the ground sprinkler is an oscillator type. Maybe you have read that they waste water. Unless you live where it is very windy, the oscillator will provide a much more even coverage than the impact you have now. In SD the impact might be the only choice. I also like Craftsman heavy duty hoses because they don't kink and carry a lifetime, no questions asked, no receipt needed, guarantee.

NEVER bag your grass clippings. Always mulch mow. Think of the grass clippings as fertilizer applied all season long. If you mow high on a weekly basis, you will never be cutting more than a small fraction of the grass height off at any one time. These clippings fall neatly into the grass and decompose.

Here is a little photographic motivation for you. These are all Kentucky bluegrass lawns, mowed high, and watered deeply and infrequently. They are all maintained with organic fertilizer and use no herbicides.

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One comment on the sprinkler types. I don't know if they make them for the above ground types, but I've got an in-ground system that had a bunch of impact sprinklers. They were problematic at best. One time when I was replacing a head, I saw some gear driven sprinkler heads. I used one of those and that's the only kind I use now. They are much more reliable and do a much better job of providing even coverage. If they make them for above ground sprinklers, gear driven sprinklers are much better than impact sprinklers.

Gilmour has rotary turbine that looks like this
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• Water coverage up to 4,000 sq. ft. (70 ft. diameter)

• Multi-stream nozzle provides even coverage

• Easily adjusts to cover a full or partial circle

• Distance control deflector slides to desired water coverage setting

• Super quiet water driven turbine motor for extra-long life

• Works at water pressures ranging from 15 PSI to 150 PSI

• Impact resistant, rustproof polymer construction

Is that sort of how yours works? If you have a place where watering in a circle or arc makes sense, I'd try this one. It is the one design that is new enough that I have not tried it. My first concern would be water coverage right up near the sprinkler itself.

Other benefit to mulch mowing - the clippings provide around 1 lb of nitrogen per year back into the lawn - so if you mulch mow, and need 4 lbs of N per year, that's 25% less fertilizer you need to buy and apply.

That looks similar to the gear driven ones I've got, but the multi-stream nozzle is a new wrinkle. The gear driven heads probie much better coverage than the impact sprinklers, even near the sprinkler itself. I suspect that the multi-stream version does an even better job.

I haven't turned my sprinklers on yet (probably the only person around here who hasn't) so I forgot one of the big benefits listed there. Super quiet is no exaggeration. My wife hated the sprinklers because they sometimes wake her up when I run them from midnight to 7. She never hears the gear driven ones. I can hardly hear them when I turn them on for testing and stand right next to them.

Oh okay. I'm due to try a new type of sprinkler.

First and foremost.....where in SD are you, will make a major difference in anything lawn or garden! Say, the differences between Sioux Falls, Rapid City, and Winner are going to be major. (I'm a SD native) Rapid would be the easiest actually to have a fantastic lawn. Winner, hardly anyone can afford the water bill to keep a lush/green lawn going in that dry environment, and Sioux Falls is facing water shortages yearly as they've outgrown their supply, again, thus lots of summer restrictions.

Thanks for all the replies... Sorry it took me a bit to respond, I thought I set this to be notified on replies... anyhoo...

I'm happy to report that my lawn has greened up quite a bit and the seeds have begun to sprout and some are about 1 to 1.5 inches. I've still got alot of the same patchy problems but there alot less noticeable since the lawn has greened and especially when I raked up all the dead thatch.

@dchall_san_antonio
I no longer have the seed bag but I believe it was this one (http://www.scotts.com/smg/catalog/productTemplate.jsp?tabs=general&proId=prod10300005&itemId=cat50050&id=cat50016). Yes of course I would like to have the best lawn on the block but was intimidated by all the options and steps out there. I don't have too much of a natural green thumb but I now find myself staring at my grass for like 30 minutes at a time. I'd be very interested in learning more about the "renovation" you mentioned.

@sophie12 I'm in Sioux Falls. (west river boy transplanted over here... for now). From what I've been told the restrictions are the typical even numbered houses on even numbered days, and vice versa...

I've got another question. I have ants EVERYWHERE. They were just noticeable in the cracks of the sidewalk and driveway but now there all over the front yard and especially noticeable where the yard meets the sidewalk... no exageration there are probably over 50 noticeable ant hills without even looking hard at the yard. 1 - is this something I need to worry about? 2 - any suggested products/remedies?

Again I thank all of you for your input.

West river here too, well, many moons ago---8 miles east of Dallas............