While I'm sure that there will be disagreement with my position on aeration  here's my take on it.  The best way to keep soil from compacting is to maintain a healthy stand of grass.  Aeration is something that I consider to be mostly unneeded unless there is obvious compaction of the soil AND the soil is a loam that has a reasonable level of organic material.  A compacted heavy clay soil is not going to be helped much by poking holes in it.  Improvement of
this clay type soil is achieved by incorporation of well composted organic material such as peat moss, leaf mold, or manure and sand.

If the soil is a nice sandy loam with a resonable organic material
content (1.5 to 3 percent) working to establish a healthy stand of
turf is usually a better way to keep the soil from compacting.
Heavily compacted soil that is otherwise suitable can be helped by
mechanically breaking it up but it usually requires more than will be
provided by poking holes in it.

Watering in the early morning is best.  The key to doing it right is
to provide the water slowly so that it has time to penetrate well.  A
healthy lawn, watered correctly will establish a root system that will
reach 12 to 18 inches deep.  This, by the way, is the one thing that
airration can help with.  If the water refuses to soak in no mater
what you do, give it a try.  It may provide the water the path it
needs to get to the grass roots.  Do not water lightly and often as
this pulls the root systems up to the surface of the lawn and then
missing a watering or two can severly damage or even kill off your
grass.  Deep watering pulls the root system down where it belongs.

I am somewhat reluctant to recommend fertilizer without knowing the
turf.  In my area fescue is the predominant turf grass and it is a low
fertility grass.  Despite the encoragement of the makers of fertilizer
it is generally not a good idea to give fescue more than a light touch
of fertilizer in the spring.  It should be fertilized in the fall to
push root growth going into the winter.  Other grasses such as
kentucky blue grass require a higher level of nitrogen and so what is
good for one grass is not necessarly good for all types.  One size (or
dose) does not fit all.  I will mention that that the very dark green
color that you sometimes see in yards where the grass is fertilized
heavily and often is not usually an indication of healthy turf but
rather an overly lush growth that is akin to putting you on 100%
oxygen.  Lots of energy but you tend to burn out early.

The final thing I will suggest is that the best way to help your turf
stay healthy is to cut it at the proper height.  Never less than 2.5
inches and preferably 3 inches.  Cutting the grass shorter causes it
to grow faster.  It does this to replace the surface area that it has
to have to perform photosynthisis.  When you cut the grass short your
are starving it.  Also, a tall stand of turf tends to shade out low
growing broadleaf weeds such as clover and chickweed.  Grass kept at
the 3 inch height acts as a living mulch; it keeps the ground shaded,
reducing evaporation thus reducing the need for watering.  Try to cut
no more than one-third of the grass leaf at any time and keep your
mower blade sharp.  If, after you mow, you can see a jagged edge on
the top of the grass leaf and the day after you mow, the grass has a
brown tinge, the blade is in need of sharpening.  Most people do not
sharpen often enough.  I find that if I sharpen my mower blades every
6 to 8 hours of cutting, it keeps them sharp enough to avoid this
damage to the turf.

Hope this is of some help.

--- In Landscape_Pro_Tips@yahoogroups.com, "buda7403" <buda74@m...> wrote:
> With spring arriving I am getting ready to fertilize. The previous
> owner never did. I don't know if I should airrate, or have the lawn
> thatched, or if I can just lay down the fertilizer? I also hear all
> different times to water the lawn. When is the correct time to water
> the lawn, and about how long do you water it for.
>
> buda7403