[killer_carlson]

We've been in the house a couple of years now. Older house on a really old lot.

Aerated two falls ago, last spring and last fall.
Top dressed two years ago with a soil/sand mixture.
Power Raked last fall (it was disgusting how much dead grass came up).

I think the people we bought it from fertilized the crap out of it so it looked good while showing, and then never put another drop of water on it from May through until August 15 when we bought. Never been able to get it green no matter how much water I put on it.

Parts of it did not take the top dressing very well at all as it seemed to finish any blade of grass that wasn't 100% healthy.

In any event, I think that now that the top dressing has made its way through to the roots, now that the power rake was done, and that a good aerating was done as described above, it is time to have a go at this stuff.

I bought some grass seed to over-seed as well as some fertilizer. I also bought a hand held aerator (which will be a lot of work but a good workout as well as cheaper in the long run).

So the advice I'm looking for is this:

What order or timelines should I employ with respect to when I fertilize, overseed and aerate this spring?

Should I aerate tonight, overseed and fertilize tomorrow? Or should I aerate today, wait a month to overseed and fertilize?

What do you advise or wise and powerful CP knowledge base.

(PS, my wife is giving me grief for relying on CP for things like this so it will really play well in my household if the advice given actually works....)