So I have been trying and trying to get a handle on where to start with our pitiful bermuda. It was bad sod from the start that was laid in February 3 years ago on hard red clay. It has never really thickened up and been w/o weeds.

After 3 years, I've finally started my research and am starting to see a clear picture of what we need to do. We did not know you had to mow once a week. We treated it like the fescue I grew up with. Left it too long and mowed with 2-3 weeks b/w, and then took off too much at a time. This I know led to a thatch problem.

I know it is traditionally late to dethatch, but we have had decent rain this year so the grass is actually growing awesome right now. Plus, I had to wait to get my hands on a dethatcher. Finally after much waiting my roommate borrowed a working dethatcher from his job. That and I think in our case the dethatching will help more then hurt. I have the sprinklers to water to help it bounce back and cope with the GA heat. He also borrowed a Core aerator for the bad clay beneath. I bought top soil to rake in the aerator holes after so the ground does not harden back up.

Since I'm in GA we still have quite a long growing season ahead, so I should not be messing up the dormancy cycle, right?

Now the main question is... How soon after I torture it do I fertilize/weed it with 28-0-4? That same weekend or wait a few days? Should I throw down the 28-0-4 before or after I rake in the topsoil. Do I need any preemergence in the mix? Figured I was too late for it now.

thank you for helping out a newbie!