I'm with Eggy, Skizot, I wouldn't do it all at once. A half app will penetrate the holes, or it won't, and a benefit will be obtained. Further benefit will be obtained three weeks later, with the other application, even if the benefit is not somehow 'optimal'.......but you have then eliminated the risk of burn on the lawn. 12-12-12 is pretty powerful stuff, and should only be used in the fall. Depending on what you're using to core aerate, there's nothing the matter with core aerating again, just before the second application, except maybe a shortage of teenagers in the home who can be given that manual labor. But you should consider, until you get a handle on this thing, aerating both in the fall and in the spring.

"just me 6" ... I agree with Kimmsr that you want to get the lime in there to start working, BUT I don't know that I think doing so before the builder levels things out makes sense. I just picture you distributing the lime well across the top of the soil, and the bulldozer coming and scraping the top 3 inches away here and filling in a dip there ... resulting in a really uneven distribution of the lime. If I were you I'd wait. If I read you right, we're just talking about waiting until Tuesday or Wednesday; I think waiting a few days is worthwhile to increase the chances you get your lime distributed pretty evenly. As to improving your "nasty sticky clay soil" ... lime will fix the pH, but I don't think it will affect the texture. You want better "tilth" ... not sure if a search on that word here will bring up articles that will help. Adding lots of organic material is the single best way to improve your tilth, for a variety of reasons. First, just mechanically, having lots of bits of organic stuff in between the sticky bits separates them and lets air and water in. Next, the soil beasties that are going to eat that organic stuff will, in the process, glue some of the clay particles together into aggregates (bigger bits), which tend to permit air and water to penetrate around/between them. Do you have a source of free municipal mulch? By that, I mean ground up leaves that a nearby city collected in the fall, let sit over the winter, and puts out for you to take the following year? That can be good stuff or it can be garbage-y. I have a couple of cities around me to choose from, and have a clear preference for one over another.... Alternately, if you're willing and able to spend, get a truckload of compost from a local nursery. Go there first to see what they'll sell you. My nursery sells it for $35/yard, and they're selling pretty nice stuff (ground a lot finer than the municipal free stuff, looks more decomposed, maybe is in a more managed pile over the winter?). Till it in to your soil after the builder and before you first plant. Then add more to the perennial beds. And keep adding more to any plants that can be mulched (nearly everything except grass) forever more. (Wood and bark mulches last longer, but ground up leaves feed the soil better.) By the way, don't let anyone sell you topsoil. You have plenty of the mineral component of soil already. You want more of the organic component, and that's the only part it makes any sense to pay anyone to haul to you. Don't let them talk you into a mix of compost and topsoil either ... that would be better for their profit, but not better for you. (UNLESS you have a shallow area you want to fill ... but then, the builder should fix that, right?) I know, I'm not giving a lot of advice on the soil test. But you asked how to make sticky clay better, and in my flower beds, compost and leaf mulch are what does it. - LCPW p.s. On the "posey power" ... hard to say without knowing what it is, and some facts about what KIND of clay you have. I have learned here that one kind of clay actually can be broken up well by a chemical additive that nurseries sell. But many many folks have asked about it and knowledgeable folks here have said, "you're in a part of the country with clay that won't be helped by that in the least". I'd say don't do it until you know more.

Chandra, I would like to send some mineral to the plant exchange. I am closer to being at the toxic level than I am of having too little. I feel I am walking a thin line, I want to build my soil with organic matter but I already have above optimum in Zn, P, and K, and if I don't keep the PH at the proper lever Fe can be a problem. I have been thinking about growing corn in that garden and feeding the stalks to the cattle, of shredding them and tilling them into my new garden. I have not tested it yet so I have no idea what the mineral count in it is. I only started the new garden last year and it has few amendments in it. Larry

You won't need starter when you overseed, and the new grass won't need a thing for at least 30 days after sprout (seed contains the first month of every required resource). At the 1 month point, feed gently with a nitrogen-bearing fertilizer, or feed with an organic grain-based fertilizer when you plant (it'll become available at week 3 to 4). Watering...I'd play it by ear, but given your sodium levels, I'd still go with the full inch until those go down. We really don't want to make that any worse, which shallow irrigation will do.