25 pounds of anything might be enough when spread on an area of about 50 square feet and no where near enough on an area of 500 square feet.
How much organic matter is in the soil you have now?
How well does that soil drain?
How well does that soil rtetain moisture?
What kind of life is in the soil you have now?
Take a good, in depth look at the soil you have using these simple soil tests
1) Soil test for organic matter. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top.

2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains� too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell.

5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy.
which can help you determine what you need to do.

There were leaves and pine straw in the yard, they have been there for years though. I haven't done the drain test, but I did install a mail box, and when I dug the hole for that there were no worms at all. And as far as tilth goes, its dry and dusty despite a good bit of rain recently from Trop Storm Lee.

So I can assume I need to spread more organic matter? Are dry leaves considered to be organic matter? If so, why did the soil go so wrong if there were so many leaves/pine straw all over the lawn?

I would assume the easiest/cheapest way to add matter would be to compost the dry leaves myself. Is there another better way? This is a rental house, so I don't want to spend a lot of money (hence the rabbit food attempt), but I don't want my lawn to be dust either. Any advice is welcome.

Thanks!

I plan to add some more rabbit food to the yard in a week or so. The main reason I want to stick with it is the price, but it does list as the top two ingredients alfalfa meal, and soybean meal. I figure another 50lbs may do some good? Also, I've been reading you can add worms to jump start their return to the soil. Where does one start to look for worms? Are bait worms fine?

Earthworms need a fairly decent level of organic matter in soils to live. Adding earthworms to a soil that cannot support them, ie has too little organic matter, is not going to change the lack of them. Those added will migrate to better environmnets or die from lack of food.
Get the level of organic matter in your soil into the 5 to 8 percent range and the earthworms will appear with no need for you to buy any.

I grabbed a bag of coffee and tea grounds from Starbucks yesterday and spread it on my yard. I would guess it weighed around 20lbs. It didn't go very far in my yard, maybe if I dried it out first then spread it, it would have gone further. Or I just need to get some more :)

I read of a research paper done in MI, I believe i was, that they mulched in maple leaves to the point of essentially covering the grass, almost to the top of the grass leaf.
They claim it did not suffocate the grass but certainly helped the soil. You might want to pickup leaf bags from the neighborhood and mulch mow them onto the turf.

I'd take special care, not to let it pack down the blades of grass.

I have a ton of leaves that were choking out our yard piled up, I have added some kitchen scraps and what dirt we had in our yard plus some water in my first attempt at composting. The leaves advice is good, but I have a reel mower not a mulcher, and I think my soil has zero organisms in it to break down the leaves and thats why there were so many just sitting on top of my yard.

Thanks!

Back in the 1980's the turf grass students at Michigan State University experimented with mulch mowing leaves, from many different trees, and on one of the plots mulch mowed a pile of leaves 6 inches thick into the turf. That plot did not receive any other form of nutrient supplement (fertilizer) and the next summer that plot grew greener, thicker, faster then any other grass plot.
Without organic matter in the soil the Soil Food Web will not live since they depend on organic matter for survival. While reel mowers are very environmentally accetable they do not chop leaves well at all, however, you could rake those leaves and pile them up to get digested and turned into leaf mold and then you could spread them around after that, much more work then mulch mowing them into the soil where they fall.

Thanks for the great info guys. I have a pile of leaves (mostly oak) and pine straw that I may try the weed whacker in a trash can method of shredding.

I know the leaves info is sound and will work, but when we moved in there were leaves and straw all over the yard just piled up and not decomposing. I just don't want the same thing to happen.

I've been spreading coffee grounds just about everyday this week. I just run to the Starbucks on base and pickup a bag before heading home after work. I may even give the snackbar a bucket and have them keep the coffee grounds from the week in there for me.

If you can get your hands on some humic acid, yucca or kelp extracts or solutions those will generally help with both lawns and gardens (and are organic as well)

Humic acid forms in soils as a result of the activity of the Soil Food Web and does not need to be bought. Spending money on any of those products is largely a waste of that money.

Put whatever organic matter you have readily available back into the soil and do not rely one those magic elixirs that only pad the pockets of those selling them.

kimmq is kimmsr

These "elixirs" have provided good yields for my crops when used in conjunction with other organic materials. I believe that sometimes my compost bins may not hold all of the required nutrients and these products have helped fill that gap. This is based off the tests that I've done with and without said elixirs.

So based on the success of my yields I don't see it as a waste of money.