The photos didn't take; wait until they stop looking ghostly and look like the fully saturated photo (and try uploading only 1 per post) before posting the reply.

Or just upload them to an exterior source and link to it.

Here we go. Thanks for the advice.

I just moved into my house last November. I don’t know what type of grass the dark green is vs the lighter green grass. Looks like a mix of fescue and Bermuda.

Thank you for the observation. Actually, I’m in Atlanta, Georgia. I was planning on starting with laying down top soil and sand to fill in the gaps because, as you can tell, the soil is all kinds of uneven.

the next step is to aerate and plant seeds after that and then water it daily. Thoughts on my proposal? Also, you think that the dark green is fescue that has been thrown in with Bermuda? Should I just pull out all of the dark green as part of the plan? it really does seem to be out of place. I’ve attached another picture of the entire backyard. thanks again!

It would also help to know where you live so we can eliminate some types of grass that don't grow in certain places.

Be that as it may, you said, I’m about to embark on a backyard renovation. One of the first things that I need to do is to aerate and plants more seeds.

You don't need to do any of those things. First of all, unless you live in the PNW, spring is a poor time to renovate a lawn. The best time of year to renovate is at the end of summer. There are two reasons for this. 1) summer heat will kill the newly seeded grass, and 2) crabgrass will dominate the newly seeded grass before you realize it. And lastly, aeration is not needed - there's a better way to soften your soil.

By the picture I'm going to guess you live in a mid Atlantic state and have bermuda mixed with weeds. If you have obvious high spots or low spots, now is the time to level those out. Next learn about deep watering. Deep watering has been recommended for literally generations, but for some reason has been ignored in favor of daily light watering. Deep means watering 1 full inch all at one time. The best way to do that consistently is to put out some cat food or tuna cans around the yard and turn on the sprinklers. Time how long it takes to fill all the cans. My oscillator sprinkler takes 8 hours to fill the cans on full sweep. A neighbor's high flow system takes 20 minutes. You have to measure your own system. As to the frequency of watering, this depends on the air temperature more than any other factor with humidity coming in second. But in most cases here is a guide. For daily high temps below 70, deep water once a month. For temps between 70 and 80, water once every 3 weeks. For temps between 80 and 90, water every other week. For temps between 90 and 100, water once a week. For temps from 100 to 105, deep water every 5 days. For temps from 105 to 110, water once every 4 days. Note that you never deep water every day and you never water lightly. If you get a good rainfall, don't water again until the grass tells you it's dry. Simply watering properly will fix many lawn issues. Deep and infrequent watering discourages most weeds which need frequent shallow watering. It also helps to bring up nutrients from deeper in the soil for the plants to use.

Mowing. Mow most grasses at the mower's highest setting, because this creates the most grass density and deepest root system. The exceptions are bermuda, centipede, and creeping bentgrass which are most dense when mowed at the mower's lowest setting.

Fertilizer. Fertilize for the first time in late may for almost all grasses. The only exception is bermuda which can/should be fertilized after the second mowing in early spring and every month thereafter.

Weed control. You have weeds, for sure. Assuming the grass at the perimeter is bermuda, then the weedy grasses look like a fescue or other wild bunch grass. It is harder to get weedy grasses out of grass than it is to get out broadleaf weeds like clover and dandelion.

Renovation. If you have bermuda, you should never need to renovate. If you think it needs renovation, it probably needs proper watering. Or, it might need less shade than it's getting. Bermuda needs 5+ hours of unfiltered sunlight every day in the growing season. If you don't have that, then change the grass type or go to a shade loving ground cover. For example bermuda will not grow well next to a fence except the south side. If it is on the north, east, or west side of a fence, it will thin out and look poorly. No amount of renovation will permanently improve bermuda in the shade. If you want to renovate I would suggest strongly to not waste your spring worrying about it. Live with the weeds. The only time to renovate bermuda is in the hottest heat of summer. The best time to renovate fescue, rye, or Kentucky bluegrass is in the late summer.

So now what do you want to do? And again, where do you live?

...Atlanta? ....Seriously? That's a lot of fescue and looks like a bad PA lawn. :-)

I'm not a southern lawn expert, but you're definitely going to want to wipe the deck to get rid of the fescue, which is going to involve some RoundUp. Even if you add soil (not something I recommend doing blindly due to changing grading--it's usually a good idea to get a good landscaper to assure that you don't end up with a drainage issue unless we're talking about minor divots and gouges), the fescue will simply grow right through unless you seriously bury it.

And even then, as some movie said, "Life finds a way." Sometimes, anyway. Enough to be annoying. Easier to kill it off.

Match your initial soil rather than using a sand/soil mix. While more expensive, the result is more consistent, holds resources better, and doesn't create a root interface that roots dislike passing. Ask me how I learned that one... :-)

I'd still get the soil test. A $25 soil test means that, even if nothing's wrong, at least you know that and it's an easy thing to do. If something is wrong, you can fix it and have a nice lawn (and gardens, if you want them).

Aeration is generally unnecessary. Just plant, water, and the seed will grow. I haven't aerated ever, but have had said soil test, balanced the chemistry, and used organics to assure that the soil aerates itself for me (the chemistry, adjusted properly, also helps). But you can certainly do it if it makes you feel better...although you're likely to also get far more weeds when planting.

Other than that, the southern grass people will be along with proper dates and methods to plant that will be more helpful to you than I or anybody up north will be. They've actually done it, I just work with KBG and fescue and the like.

Thank you for the insight.. I've never taken the time to care for my lawn, but now that we're on lock down, I'm going to take the time to learn.

Also, just for clarification, the dark green grass is fescue, right?

Yes it does appear to be fescue.

It Atlanta, it's going to be Fescue. (It's not Bermuda, Zoysia, Centipede or the rare St. Augustine.) Since it's long been nitrogen starved (yellow) I'd get fertilizer on it as soon as possible. A well kept Fescue lawn in Atlanta would be Springtime green all winter. Summer is the off season for Fescue. You can keep it green most of the summer with supplemental irrigation, but when the real heat sets in, it's going to be difficult. It's hard to avoid browning in July and August. Spring sewn fescue does not do well and will croak at the first sign of heat. It's much better to start a new lawn in September. Those dark green grasses mixed in are weed grasses. Surely you have other weeds, too. I'd work on controlling those now and through the summer so that when you seed a fall lawn, the weeds are already gone.