spazboy357, Paul is right, you are a bit short on time, but not all is lost. 1. Look at the weather for the next 4 days. If there are no 90 temps in sight, hit the lawn with a general weed killer. Then 7 days later, check the weather again for hot temps, if none in sight, hit it again with the weed killer. WeedBGone is the one I have used. It will take a couple weeks, but most of those weeds will die. 2. Big number synthetics will be good for later this fall after your seedlings somewhat mature. For now, you can get a start and get something organic down that will not harm the current grass. Miorganite is fine, or Soybean meal. Just get it down now so the micro herd activity will increase right about the time you will core aerate and seed. From there your plan is solid... My plan: Day One: Cut the lawn short (1.5"), power rake, and water heavily. -- Can't see why not Day Two: Core aerate thoroughly, put down Milorganite, overseed, put down a .25" layer of compost, sweep it in, and water. -- I would add a starter fertilizer along with the Milorganite. Milorganite will not burn or react to the starter or seeds. It will take 2-3 weeks to start working, just as the starter fertilizer wears off. Also your previous application of Milorganite will be in high gear at this time, great time for more and compost, perfect combination. Day Three onward: Water frequently (2x/day) until grass sprouts and then regularly after. --just keep the seedlings moist for the first month or so. Even after the seedling sprout they still need steady moisture, but you can cut back on the frequency and add to the voulume of watering. Do a search on watering schedule...Bestlawn nailed that process. Then, once you have mowed the new lawn a couple times, i suppose you can hit it with a synthetic, but I don't use them anymore except for the starter fert. So I will hold back on giving any advice there. Others will chime in on that. Then in the begining November, you'll want to hit it with a big nitrogen number fertilizer. This will aid in spring green up. You should be all set until May, and don't worry about weeds until then. You will get some, or a lot. Just leave them alone. You can hit them with weedBgone before the summer heat. By this time next year if the weather is cooperates you'll have a nice thick carpet, just in time for the sale. Good luck and get some photos of the process, those are always interesting to see. Plus we can all jump in and help if something doesn't look right.

Nitrogen availability is dependant on soil temperature and that is the major reason soil test labs no longer test for it. In addition there are other things that the "soil test" kits sold in garden centers don't test for that are important to know and affect the availability of soil nutrients. Contact your county office of the Kansas State University Cooperative Extension Service to find out about where to get a good, reliable soil test. Soil pH can affect nutrient availability as can the level of organic matter in your soil and both affect the Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) of your soil, all things a home test kit will not do a good job testing for.

Ok, a few things. I've personally found oregano to be far more invasive and misbehaved than mint, and mint is pretty rambunctious. I'd put both in pots, on concrete (to keep the roots from escaping into the ground). And even then, it will probably spread via seeds. Mint and oregano are appx. 18-24" tall at maturity. Thyme is usually very well behaved in all its various forms. The creepers will creep somewhat, but not in a thuggish manner. Lemon Verbena is only reliably hardy to Zone 8. I had it in a very protected part of my Zone 7 garden in NM, and was always relieved and somewhat surprised each year it came back. It stayed quite small, even though it was planted in the ground (12-18") - in mild climates it is a true shrub. So, in your Zone 6, if you want to hold it over from year to year, you'll probably want to put that in a pot as well so you can bring it indoors for the winter. I'm not sure how it will react to being indoors, but it will almost surely die if left outdoors in Z6. I've seen reports of it coming back as far north as zone 5, but I can only guess those plants are in incredibly protected parts of the garden, or the gardener has taken extra precautions to help it through the winter. I have a large garden (over an acre), so I allow mint and oregano to go where they please - and the oregano patch is far, FAR more out of control than the mint. It's almost as big a thug as Shasta Daisy, LOL! At least the mint and the oregano smell good - Shastas stink!

Once you stop using chemicals the beneficial/good bugs will return and keep the bad bugs in check. I haven't needed to put any insecticide on my lawn/landscape since I started feed my lawn organically. Frogs, Lizards, Spiders, Paper wasps, Big eyed bugs and other will take care of most of the harmful bugs. For example, Before I started organics, I would remove Paper Wasp nest from under my eves and palm trees. Every year I would get sod webworm damage. Then I found out that the Paper Wasp feeds heavily on caterpillars, flies and beetle larvae. I stopped removing them and I have not had sod webworm damage again. I see them all the time hovering just above may grass. I also notice 2 praying mantis on my grass one night. For the organic approach to truly and easily work in your favor you have to take all things into consideration. CGM is hit or miss for weed control. It will only help control weed seeds that have not yet sprouted. I would personal skip it because of the cost$$$. If you do use it apply it at 20lbs per 1000sqft. Water it in 2 times in one week then water very very infrequently for the next month or 2. A good starting point with any spreader is 1/2 open. There is no rule about the number of time you have to run the spreader over the lawn. That usually applies to synthetic fert to make sure one gets even coverage/avoid burning. Usually you would start spreading In a North/south direction and when your finished run back over in a east/west direction until the hopper is empty. With an organic approach you are going to have some weeds in your lawn. The best thing for weed control is proper maintenance practices. 1. Mulch Mow High with a shape blade. 2. Water deep - 3/4-1" of water per zone and infrequently - no more than once a week in summer. To determine how long to run your sprinkler system to apply this much water, set out several tuna fish cans at random in each sprinkler zone and see how long it takes to fill them to the desired depth. Be sure to check your irrigation system for uniform coverage at the same time. Hope this helps and welcome aboard.