Question
This contains a few different issues/questions:
I live just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah.  About a year and a half ago we bought a home that was just built (we were the first owners) so it obviously didn't have a yard.
After the sprinklers were put in, we had a guy come and hydro seed for us.  For the most part it has come in alright, but there are areas that are still very patchy.  There are other areas where we apparently didn't grade all that well so there are some low spots and the seed seems to not have worked that great in those areas also.  Is there a recommended way of improving these areas?  Also, I fertilized a couple of weeks ago and it appears that some areas of my lawn have dried up dramatically since then.  It is very brown.  I would guess that is because I over fertilized.  How should I proceed to revive those areas?  How many times per day should I water and for how long to help revive those areas?  Last question:  Once a lawn is thick and full, what is the recommended watering schedule to maintain that?

Answer
Hi Russ;
Put just a tad too much fertilizer and you can burn out everything you have.
That sprinkler system is a problem.
I wish those things would go away.
The can't be calibrated so they the water the way a ;lwan really needs to be watered. They are in the ground, so it limits what you can do as far as adding soil, tilling etc.
they are just a pain in the neck.
I don't like the hydro seeding either.
Don't like the chemical lawn companies.
All these things are so against nature ( didn't approve of them any more when I was using chemical lawn products)and it just sems to be next to impossible to have a nice lawn when ther\se things are employed.
If you have too much clay in the soil, it does not let water drain through t the roots.
You need to loosen up clay soil before you plant, to save years of frustration.
Builders, when they even do put any top soil, usually dump one or two inches on top of whatever soil is there. If there is good draining soil underneath, ok, but if it is hard clay, you have failure built in with a false sense of it being right.
To grow gras you need at least 8 or 10 inches of good soil, and the soil under than needs to drain well enough so the grass roots don't set in a water pool.
The low spots can be a problem, because it is hard to mow and get the grass even, not to mention making a less than neat looking lawn.
Can you just put soil on these low spots without covering up your sprinkler heads?
If you can, just make some good soil.,
I don't know how much soil you need to cover these areas. If you have a lot of soil needed, enough to order from a soil company, then try to get sandy loam.
If you have to but it from the nursery in bags, top soil can enev compact and become a problem.
I would mix one part top soil and one part bark mulch ( cedar is best), and add that on the low spots.
dig into your soil under the top soil, and see if it is hard clay or nice loose soil.
If it is hard clay, then aerating, prefferably with a garden fork.
Stick the gardenfork in as far as you can, and work it back and forth to make a larger hole. Put sand ( lava sand would be better because it has a lot of nutrients that will help break up that clay), and water do ir goes into the holes. That will add some looseness so water can get down into the soil at least some.
Stop putting the chemicals on the lawn.
Going on an organic program will not only save you money, labor and frustration, it will balance out the soil in time, so that all you have in your yard is nice rich soil that will grow anything.
the fertilizer you oput down a couple of weeks ago are going to slow down the results you will get on an organic program, because that fertilizer killed all the micro-organisms that work continually enriching and improving the soil.
rich soil will do away with weeds, because weeds like poor soil and will not thrive in rich soil.
Apply the sugar now, but in aboiut 4 to 6 weeks, aply it again.
sugat does NOTHING but nourish the microbes that imporove the soil.
If there are any at all alive still, the sugar will nourish them. If none are alive, it will not hurt anything, but will be in the soil if any develope.
After 4 to 56 weks of watering, that fertilizer should be out of the soil. Longer if you used a slow release fertilizer.
I an going to copy my lawn care program here for you now.
If you have any qustions after reading it, please write again, and will address them.
Charlotte
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You will constantly improve your soil if you go on a totally organic program, and don't use any chemicals at all.
I have beenm on such a program for the last 9 to 10 years, after breaking my back and ruining my body trying to maintain a decent lawn, with only mediocre results.
the organics has freed me from about 90% of the physical work, about that much of the expense, and the results are a think, beautiful yard with no weeds or harmful insects.
Man!!! Wish I had known all this 50 years ago !
The corn clutem meal is an organic product.
If you use organics, and then use chemicals, you will cancel out the organics.
Chemical fertilizers kill all the beneficial microbes, nematodes and other beneficial insects and critters that work around the clock improving your soil.
Beneficial microbes enrich the soil. Chemicls do NOT.
If you put a little too muchj chemical products on the lawn, it will burn your grass, and do a lot of other damage.
If you put too much organics on it, all you do is waste a little time and money.
Sugar does absolutely nothing but nourish the beneficial micrebes. THEY do the work.
Weeds will not grow in rich soil. If they cme up, they will start to die out right away.
The first time I use sugar was in the spring. I had not put any chemicals on the yard since the fall feeding, so they were all worn out of the soil.
I had a lawn about 50% full of dandelions, crabgrass, johnson grass, clover, dollar weed and some other shallow rooted weeds like chickweed etc.
a couple of weeks after I put down the sugar and watered it in, I had about half as many weeds. Nobody had pulled a weed or anything. My husband had just mowed.
I went nuts, like a school of sharks in a feeding frenzy, and ran out and bought more sugar, put it down and waterewd it in.
A couple more mowings, and there were so few weeds. In a few more werks they were all gone.
The next spring about half as many weeds as before came up, but in a few weeks they were gone.
All I had done was the sugar in the spring, and I did that again in the fall.
I used baking soda disolved in water for black spot on my roses and powdery mildew n my crepe mytrtles. That works much better then the chemical fungicides I had used before.
I started getting a nice herd of lizards, toads and grass snakes in my yard.
I had a BIG grub problem every year. I haven't had that since, nor do I have those nasty tent catapillars dropping on my head from the trees.
I see lizards running in the trees and along the fence. I never see the grass snakjes, which is fine with me. I seldon see a toad, but they are all there.
Sugar; I use 4 or 5 pounds per 1000 sq.ft. I just broadcast it by hand, and water it in well. If you spill a blob in one spot, no problem. No burning or other damage.

Watering; I always water to a depth of at least 6 inches. Deep watering like that encourages a deep root growth. That protects from heat, cold and drought damage, and prevents thatch. I water with soaker hoses, and run them till the water is close to the edge and is about to start running off the yard. then I turn it off and wait an hour or so for it to soak in, and turn it on again. I keep doing that until it is wet down to a depth of 6 inches at least. Even here in our Texas heat, I water only once a week, unless it stays well above 100 for a week or more, which it sometimes does. then I look at the grass, and if my St. Augustine is folded up, lengthwise, I know it needs water. It folds the blades up to reduce the area exposed to evaporation. Burmuda, when it gets thirsty, bends it's little blades a little, like it is bowing.
My earthworms and cock roaches etc tunnel through the soil, and that keeps it aerated. Their castings add nourishment. Cockroaches are beneficial. They normally live in the soil and feed on other harmful insects. We put down pesticides, and kill their food supply, so they come in our houses to get food and hide from the pesticides.
I use fresh rosemary to keep them out of my house.

Baking soda disolved in water, about 2 TABLESPOONS per gallon of water, sprayed on top and underneath all the leaves, prevent molds and fungus on plants. You can also use it for fungus in the soil, or you can apply agricultural corn meal and water that in. About 10 pounds per 1000 sq.ft.

Corn gluten meal is an organic fertilizer and weed killer.
It won't interfere with the sugar.
None of the organics calcel each other out.
Alfalfa meal is another good food to add. Just sprinkle it on in about the same thickness the sugar goes on, and water. It is full of nutrients. So is lava sand. Yopu can add it to the top of the soil, dig it into the soil, or add it when you are adding soil, or putting soil in a comntainer for a plant.
Alfalfa meal, as well as generally nourishing the soil, helps promote larger and more blooms in blooming plants and house plants.
You can also make a tea of it for foliar feeding or for watering house plants.
Put 1 cup alfalfa meal in 5 gallons of water and let steep overnight. Still and use to water plants, or strain it and put it in a garden sprayer for foliar feeding.  Be sure, if you strain it, to dump the dregs on the soil somewhere, it is still full of nutrients.
You probably won't need more fertilizert than that. I didn't use anything but sugar for about 8 or 9 years, and last spring, I leartned about the alfalfa meal and lava sand, so I use them.
If you have more questions, write to me.
I am very happy to share what I have learned, and am learning.
Charlotte