Great suggestions everyone! Thank you so much and keep em coming! I am definitely going to pick up some literature on better lawn maintenance. I'll see if I can round up some Tuna cans (sounds like I know what I'll be having for lunch all week) to test out my irrigation. Thats a great suggestion. I also would agree that I probably set unrealistic expectations for the lawn, especially considering that I started in the spring. I'm realizing that now after doing some research... its not as simple as mow, water, fertilize. I'll head to HD get the Immunox to at least apply something to the lawn in hopes of doing something. I do have two dogs and two cats (well... havent seen one in 2 days so maybe I have one now...), so I have to be somewhat careful. Thankfully, the back yard looks muuuuuuch better in terms of health, so I can keep them back there and not treat that yard with anything harsh. If I do want to attack and address the fungal issues on my lawn so that this issue isnt present or as prevalent next year, and if the fall is the best time to address the lawn overall... How would you guys approach your fall regimen were this your yard?

To address paulns original propostion, I don't think it's a question that has a definitive answer without clarification.....what is "old-time gardening"? How far back does one go? And there are MANY definitions of organic gardening depending on one's philosophy, so which one are we going to agree to use? A lot of the previous comments are valid in a generalized form. The use of manufactured synthetic or chemically derived fertilizers has a pretty recent history when compared to how long man has been farming or growing crops for food. They are really only a by-product of the Industrial Revolution and the "hundreds of years" can actually be reduced to about 200, with the predominance of these fertilizers being widely accepted and used immediately after WWII, when they became cheaply and widely available, as greenwood85 notes. Same with synthetic, manufacture pesticides. And their introduction to the farming or gardening scene was considered at that time to be an enormous boon - a fast-acting, lightweight, easy to apply and easily accessible material that improved and increased harvests. Naturally - without the greater understanding we have now of soil science and the health implications of chemical residues and these products effects on pollution and ecology - they were widely accepted and utilized. It would be pretty hard to go back 50 or 60 years and not find a gardener or farmer that didn't use some form of manufactured fertilizer or pesticide. But even given these considerations, a good many of those gardeners/farmers from previous generations still incorporated what might be best termed "natural gardening" practices - composting, using animal manures, companion plantings, rotational cropping, home remedies for insect and disease controls - along with the manufactured products that at the time seemed like such a great improvement on what they had been doing. And affluence and location played a role as well - poorer farmers in more remote locations tended to use more what they had on hand - the natural methods and products rather than the newer, costly and more difficult to obtain manufactured ones. So I believe it is difficult to make a direct correlation between "old time gardening" and the organic or natural way unless you are going back more than just a 100 years or so.

Favorite "picture" gardening book would be "Continuous Bloom" by Pam Duthie. This is by far the best book on perennials I have found. She also tells you what would look good with each perrenial. As for a good basic gardening book I'd get "Outdoor Gardening" by Smith and Hawken. I've just about worn that book out. I'm in the same spot you are, but three years into redefining a garden bed. The best advice I could give is to make note (and take pictures) of your garden through the season. See what blooms, what colors you like, etc. Do this for about a year before deciding to plant anything. When you've observed the garden through all the seasons then start deciding what you want to take out and how you want to change the landscape a bit. For me, I devided up my garden into four major beds. While I smother the overgrown beds I'm planting the two that are ready. I've found that I don't get overwhelmed with how much work there is to do and I have more leisure to plan out the gardens I'm not presently working on. Heather

That looks like a katydid. It's a kind of grasshopper and yes it will eat the leaves. Neem oil won't do much to kill it unless you spray it right on it, but then you're just drowning it, lol! Chewing insects like this are best dealt with by Spinosad. That's the pesticide's name, look for it in the ingredients in several brands. Bonide's is Captain Jack's Dead Bug Brew, there are other brands too. Spray it in the early evening when bees have gone home. Once it's dry, when the bees come back in the morning, they can walk on it and it won't hurt them. An insect has to ingest it for it to work, so the kadydid will have to eat a little more leaf with Spinosad on it, but then they stop eating and die. Spinosad is good to have on hand too if you get Citrus Leaf Miner, which usually shows up in the fall and spring.