[jyl]

I've decided to tackle my small but weedy, mossy, shady, lumpy, and generally irritating and useless lawn.

I have never done much lawn work beyond basic mowing, so can anyone give me some advice? I'll describe my general plan of work - would welcome any general advice, tips, steps I'm overlooking, etc. I've also underlined some specific questions.

My soil is rather clay-ey but pretty soft - not terrible, not great. Some initial digging shows some worms and not many rocks. Both yards are mostly shaded.

For the front "yard", which is only about 12' by 40', the goal is to get rid of the existing grass, improve and level the soil, then re-seed with shade tolerant grass.

Plan: Cut off the old sod (feasible with a hand sod cutter, or should I rent a powered one?), borrow my neighbor's rototiller and till the yard (right? I just sort of assume I should rototill it, but don't know why or why not), mixing in compost/mulch as I go (what would you use to amend the soil?), then level and compact the tilled soil (what is best way to do this? I assume rototilling leaves a too-lumpy and too-soft surface?), spread seed, cover w/ mulch, and water lovingly.

For the side "yard", which is barely 12' by 25', the goal is to get rid of the grass and create some planted areas with a central stone path. The kids want a chicken coop, but that's another story.

Plan: Cut off the old sod, rototill and mix, then lay down weed cloth and mulch heavily. I won't be planting right away - need to figure out what we want first - so hoping to avoid a mass of weeds and/or a giant mud pit in the meantime.

I will be installing a sprinkler system too, that is something I have done before.