rocks in soil

[I just spent 2 hours reading your website and I am now ready to do what needs to be done but I need a 123 guideline to follow.  Let me tell you about my dilemma.

I live on Long Island, NY and we put fill on our front lawn to raise the grade back in June.  I threw seed and fertilizer to develop some type of green lawn.  Its ok but we have lots of rocks and crabgrass that has been a problem.  The "soil"  is hard which is about 2" thick and under that is all sand.

I haven't seen any worms when I dug down, but lots of crickets.  I had been watering twice a day, which now I know, fed the weed problem.

My questions are:  Do we need to rake out the rocks before we add top soil?  Can we add the fertilizer now?  Is it the right time or should we wait until the spring to do the maintainence?

The exsisting grass is very thin and bare.

Thank you in advance for your advice and I think this is the best website I have read about lawn care.  Hats Off!!!

Do we need to rake out the rocks before we add top soil?

No.

Can we add the fertilizer now?

Yes.

Is it the right time or should we wait until the spring to do the maintainence?

Now is good.  Spring is good too.  Winter is bad.  Summer can be okay, but not as good as fall or spring.

Thanks for the kind words!

Hello Paul,
        I was in the organic landscape/construction biz for 17 years and understand your dilemna very well, and in that light, I just published a page on my web site that might help you a lot.  It addresses many of the issues you mention, in detail.
  You can do as much, or as little as you want out of my instructions with varying results depending on how far you take the project.  That's  true about just about anyhting I guess, but, if you're interested in a step by step guide, tune into this page: http://www.dirtworks.net/Lawn-Renovation.html. I think it will help you a lot.
Good Luck, John