Thanks. Yes, I added the lime because of the soil test recommendation, but they did recommend calcitic lime, and none of the ones at Home Depot said calcitic, so I just assumed they were all calcitic. I still don't know if they are or not, but I went to Agway recently and saw virtually no magnesium in their lime, and the cashier told me it was calcitic lime. I bought a bag, which I haven't yet used. I figure I'll wait until the next soil test. I'll do the structural test you mention. I'll gather it from different areas and test each. I do already notice some bumpiness in the new lawn area, so that's not a comforting thing after what you've told me can happen over years. It seems very sensitive to the lawnmower. At nearly every mower turn, I feel I disturb at least some of the grading that I did before seeding. It was dead flat then. I also pulled a lot of weeds, which made it even more bumpy. I'm a bit concerned now about potential amendments. Am I understanding you correctly that you don't believe it's possible to repair the areas of your lawn and your neighbors because of the addition of topsoil over the years? I want to believe there's a solution for everything. Core or liquid aeration maybe? Different seed variety? Digging up the soil and adding a deep layer of good soil? There has to be something, right? BTW, a sprinkler system was just installed here and talk about bumpy! The sprinkler guy recommended getting soil and feathering it out around the bumps. But yes, this lawn is going to need some real work to get it flat again. Now you're making me wonder about topdressing, which I was planning on doing later on this year. This is becoming quite a project. I really should have sodded, and I'm thinking that careful cutting down of the high spots might be better in many areas than feathering with more soil.

Patience. Give the seedlings a couple weeks to grow, then you can step out and fix the bare spots. The new grass will spread and thicken (tillering) as you mow it this fall. There will be a big difference at 60 days than what you see now. Any spots smaller than the circle of a coffee can, I wouldn't worry about.

I'd say no, assuming the plant is well-nourished. Once black spot is established on a plant, apparently it stays there permanently. Spores are released from spots on the leaves and on the bark, the latter over-wintering even in severe climates. Spores germinate according to temperature and moisture. The soil has no role in these processes. Infected fallen leaves play only a secondary role, and the disease does not depend on them. It's possible that using an organic mulch as opposed to bare soil could have some slight effect on the infected fallen leaves, but almost everyone aklready uses an organic mulch. I have heard anecdotal claims that a particular mulch makes a big difference, but I don't believe them.

cut & paste from another thread this morning: "Quinclorac kill crabgrass. It's the active ingredient in Drive XLR8, you can use any brand and it will work. Some people (reeljake) uses Sulfosulfuron (Sedge Ender) and it works fine as well. People have have pretty good results keep most weeds out of their bermuda with Celsius and Sulfosulfuron. Plus there is no issues related to applying in hotter temps. Reeljake also uses Dimension with active ingredient dithiopyr as his pre-emergent, I use Prodiamine. With either you want year round coverage to keep ALL WEEDS from germinating. You will need to start your PreM asap to keep winter weeds at bay, then again in Spring for Spring/Summer weeds. PreM: Prodiamine or Dimension Crabgrass: Quinclorac or Sulfosulfuron General weeds (post-emergent): Celsius - 2,4-D will work also but turns grass yellow If you get the correct products, it won't matter what the weed is, it either will never germinate in your yard, thanks to the PreM, or will die when sprayed with the post-emergent."