You can also use a power rake set to cut about 1/8 inch below the surface. Rototilling is never a good idea to prepare for sod. Within 3 years you will have uneven settling leaving the surface bumpy. Too late now but I've never seen a yard with any St Aug that could not be restored. I do it every few years on my own lawn. One area in my back yard did not get watered enough in 2010. It died and bermuda moved in. In 2011 it was all bermuda. I dropped one piece of St Aug sod in during 2011, nurtured it through 2012, and this spring it is 95% St Aug. You need to know a few things about watering and selective fertilizing to encourage the St Aug, but it can be done.

Jen, I don't think you're going to have a problem. You may have an ulcer, but not a problem with the lawn. Here's the deal: once you get grass seed onto dirt (good soil to seed contact), it's pretty hard to get that stuff NOT to germinate. Same with weed seeds, when you think about it. They'll sit there, and pick up some moisture, and bingo! We have germination. And after germination, the grass will likely grow, assuming some sort of fertilization, some sort of moisture, and a lack of traffic on the lawn. It just plain happens, and it would be hard to prevent it from happening. Oh, you want it NOW? Oh, you want it to happen more or less immediately? Gee, that's a little tougher: you'd have to 'optimize' that seeding process, and get almost all of the seed into contact with the soil, and then moist, at the same time, all of it. Oh, you want to be able to prevent the seeds from accidentally drying out, and thus losing a few? Oh, well, then, you'd have to either get lucky with mother nature, and the moisture thing (July should be avoided, eh?), and you'd have to be careful on your watering (NO puddles. NO puddles), or you'd have to put a little something down for a mulch, to try and keep things moist, keep things from evaporating quickly. Oh, you want things to move along, more or less as you planned? No intermittent problems, those things that always seem to come up, with any huge project? You wanted a small project? Well, that's not what you started. Nope. As you figured out, a lawn renovation is a HUGE project. So small-project expectations will not apply. (Hah! In SPADES, babe.) And then there's the Rolaids. Not really needed. Patience helps. A lot. So does keeping the kids, dogs, hoses, and other traffic off those seedlings. But let's work on the "attitude" or "expectation" thing for just a moment, in hopes that I can convince you not to worry. As much. 1. The seed is there, and it's more or less evenly spread. 2. It's getting some moisture, and hopefully no puddles. None. Do not let that sprinkler system make puddles, float the seed, and thus kill the seed. There's no root yet, to hold it in place, as the root hasn't yet grown. 3. We don't have to put up with July, nor August, heat, and September, with it's occasional heat, is gone as well. 4. We will resolve to stay off that lawn, even when the FIRST seedlings are an inch or two high, because the REST of the seedlings may come along a little more slowly. We know they're there. They will come in. 5. We're going to lose a few seedlings. By the way, even if you had done the job in the manner you now perceive as 'perfect', you'd STILL lose a few, now wouldn't you? 6. If you perceive that there is a CLUMP, a one inch thick chunk of compost, likely to smush just about anything down, feel free to walk over there and pick it up gently, and get it outta there. Don't re-distribute it, just get it outta there. This little bit of tuning is about all that's needed now, other than the patience thing. So, to sum up: it's gonna be fine. You did the right things, if all you want is a million fine bluegrass seeds, sprouting, spreading out, turning dark green, and filling in. You don't need it to all come in at once, kinda like installing a carpet. Think about it. Think about it while staying off the lawn, please. But it's gonna be great. Let us know how it turns out.

hogan, how about some pictures and a few details about that cheap big box brand seed, LOL!

The best time to start for grass was 5 months ago in August. At this point, though, all you can do is run with what you have. I suspect most of what you have is either dormant for winter or not growing much. Spring is a terrible time to seed, but if you can afford sod, it is fine to do in spring. As to your hard soil, I wonder if you have construction rubble out there? The worst part of construction rubble is when they dump concrete. If you have a metal pole you can go around the yard looking for that. Whack it into the ground listening for the sound of metal hitting rock. When you hear that, dig around and see if it is concrete, rock, or just a little rock. Dig out all the big stuff. When you have all the real rock out of the yard, then spray it with baby shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Spray the shampoo and water it a full inch. Then two weeks later repeat. You can measure an inch using tuna or cat food cans. Time how long it takes your sprinkler to fill the cans. It takes my sprinkler 8 hours, so this is not something you can hand hold. Get a hose and turbo oscillator sprinkler if you don't have anything else. Don't get a mechanical linkage oscillator, because the linkage is prone to failure. Turbos work great and last many seasons. When spring comes and the very first plants start to green up, start watering a full inch once a month unless Mother Nature gives you some help. When the temps warm into the 70s, bump up the frequency to once every 3 weeks. With temps in the 80s, water every other week. Temps in the 90s go to weekly watering. Don't fall into the trap of watering 1/7-inch every day to get a full inch per week. That method is guaranteed to give you a crabgrass lawn by July. The surface of the soil should be completely dry for days before you water again. And remember to skip a period when the rain gives you the full inch. Let the yard green up before you attempt to kill the weeds. Set your mower to the highest setting and see what survives 4 weeks of weekly mowing. Many plants will die immediately after the first mowing, but many will not. There's a pretty good chance that many of your weeds will choke out others leaving you a very limited variety of stuff. While you are mowing and working around in the yard, find all the holes and hills you might want to fill or scrape off. Keep track of those or fill them with sand/topsoil at your earliest convenience. If you fill holes with sand you can fill them to grade. If you use topsoil, fill, water to let the soil settle, and repeat until you have it filled to grade. Then heap it up just a little more (1/2 inch?). Trust me, it will eventually settle down to be level. Hills you can just cut off the top with a shovel. Also do not be tempted to rototill this yard if you ultimately want grass. Rototilled soil takes years to settle back to a normal structure. When it does it will be bumpy. Right now...